THE 


»)     P0l#'ION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 


( 


UNITED   S"-..TES, 


IV    ITS    rtiJCAIl     <        •  l!H    OUR 


POLITICAL   INSTITUTIONS, 


?EnFNTE   TO 


RBLiGIOUS  INSTRUCTION  I:.   lYJ.  PI'^LIC  SCHOOLS. 


BY 


STEPHEN   COLT^'ELL 


HI : ADKLPHIA: 
OTT,    Gi.AMBO   &    CO. 

1854. 


J' 


^WAh 


THE 


POSITION   OF   CHRISTIANITY 


UNITED   STATES, 


IN  ITS    RELATIONS    WITH    OUR 


POLITICAL    INSTITUTIONS, 


AND    SPECIALLY   WITH   KEFERENCE   TO 


RELIGIOUS  INSTRUCTION  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 


STEPHEN 'COLWELL 


PHILADELPHIA: 

LIPPING  OTT,    GRAM  BO    k    CO. 

1854. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1854,  by 

LIPPINCOTT,    GEAMBO    &   CO., 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 

BIEREOirPED  BY  J.  FAO.\N.  PKINTED  BY  T.  K.  AXD  P.  G.  C0LUS3. 


PREFACE. 


Every  year  of  our  national  existence  brings  in- 
creasing proof  of  the  importance  of  the  relations  of 
Christianity  with  our  political  institutions.  We  began 
our  history  by  extending  Christian  toleration  to 
all :  the  value  of  that  principle  was  evinced  in  our 
Colonial  period.  Such  toleration  as  our  fathers  incor- 
porated in  our  laws  and  constitutions  having  never 
before  been  tried,  every  year  of  experience  under  its 
operation  becomes  fraught  with  instruction  to  the 
philosopher,  statesman,  and  Christian.  It  was,  per- 
haps, difficult  in  the  origin  and  outset  of  this  experi- 
ment, to  determine  the  exact  bearings  of  such  a  policy 
on  Christianity  itself.  Up  to  this  time,  our  experience 
has  shown  not  only  the  safety,  but  the  wisdom  of 
religious  toleration.  The  whole  Christian  population 
of  the  country  admire  and  approve  it.  It  was  not 
intended,  however,  in  the  establishment  of  this  prin- 
ciple, that  toleration  should  be  an  active  policy,  and  ^ 

Christianity  a   mere    negative   power.     Christianity 

(iii) 


iv  PREFACE. 

was  not  to  be  weakened,  but  made  stronger  by  this 
proper  exercise  of  its  true  spirit.  It  became  im- 
portant therefore  from  the  beginning,  and  urgent  that 
the  true  position  of  Christianity  in  the  United  States 
should  be  defined  with  that  precision  which,  while  it 
would,  on  the  one  hand,  enlarge  the  scope  of  toleration 
and  define  its  limits,  would,  on  the  other,  clearly  re- 
veal the  great  highway  of  Christian  efibrt  and  useful- 
ness. This  has  never  been  adequately  performed ; 
and  of  late  years  the  neglect  has  caused  great  embar- 
rassment in  many  public  functions,  and  great  con- 
fusion of  ideas  among  men  of  every  class  of  opinion. 
Truth  has  lost  ground,  and  is  losing  ground,  for  want 
of  light  on  this  subject. 

Believing,  as  we  do,  that  this  is  a  Christian  country, 
inhabited  by  a  Christian  people,  that  our  political 
institutions  are  the  work  of  a  Christian  people,  de- 
signed to  be  administered  in  a  Christian  spirit,  we 
hold  that  Christianity,  instead  of  being  stripped  of 
its  just  power  and  influence  in  this  land  of  toleration, 
imposes  upon  its  friends  the  heaviest  responsibilities, 
and  expects  to  witness  its  greatest  triumphs.  Chris- 
tianity here  is  not  a  negative,  but  a  positive  power. 
The  problem  is  the  starting  point,  and  the  path. 
Christianity,  by  toleration  opened  a  door  for  all  peo- 
ple to  make  their  abode  here :  it  is  its  function  now 


PREFACE.  V 

to  promote,  by  all  the  means  within  its  compass,  their 
highest  interests  here  and  hereafter. 

We  furnish  the  following  pages  with  a  view  to 
dispel  some  of  the  doubts  which  hang  over  the  sub- 
ject, and  with  a  hope  of  inviting  others  into  a  field 
of  politico-religious  literature  which  cannot  be  ade- 
quately explored  but  by  many  minds  in  many  years. 

We  have  endeavored  to  make  it  plain  that  the  reli- 
gious system  of  the  United  States  is  virtually  Pro- 
testant :  that  the  Christianity  woven  into  the  texture 
of  our  laws  and  political  institutions  cannot  be  other 
than  Protestant.  The  Papal  system,  which  holds 
that  there  can  be  no  Christianity,  no  Christian  wor- 
ship, and  no  salvation,  out  of  the  Komish  Church, 
regards  our  State  constitutions  as  so  many  warrants 
for  heresy,  because  they  secure  to  every  man  the  reli- 
gious right  to  worship  God  as  he  pleases.  The  system 
of  the  United  States  recognizes  one  Christianity  ema- 
nating from  the  Bible,  but  admits  a  diversity  of  wor- 
ship and  opinion  if  need  be,  to  every  individual  man. 
Which  of  these  irreconcilable  systems  shall  constitute 
our  permanent  policy  ?  The  present  system  of  Chris- 
tianity for  all,  with  liberty  for  all — unity  of  aim,  with 
diversity  of  action  —  can  only  be  maintained  by  a 
wise  use  of  our  present  power  and  advantages.  This 
Christian  system,  with  its  grand  principle  of  toleration, 
must  be  maintained  when  needful  at  the  polls,  and 
vigilantly  inculcated  in  the  public  schools. 
Philadelphia,  March  Ibth,  1854. 


7 


CONTENTS. 


SECTION  I. 

Keferenee  to  the  position  of  Christianity  before  and  during  our 
Revolutionary  period  —  Formation  of  our  Political  institu- 
tions. Religious  liberty,  toleration  offered  to  all  —  Christian 
toleration — not  merely  toleration  to  Christians  and  others 9 

SECTION  11. 

Constitution  of  the  United  States — Its  relations  with  Christian- 
ity.    Oaths  of  Office  —  Religious  tests  and  establishments....     17 

SECTION  III. 

Citations  from  Story's  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  Chaplains  for  Army  and  Navy  —  De  Tocque- 
ville,  Alex.  Hamilton 24 

SECTION  IV. 

The  early  Constitutions  of  the  American  States  on  the  subject 
of  Christianity  and  Religious  liberty 32 

SECTION  V. 
The  existing  Constitutions  of  the  several  States 37 

SECTION  VI. 

Remarks  on  the  Constitutional  Provisions  cited  in  the  preceding 
Section 52 

SECTION  VII. 
Judicial  Decisions  touching  Christianity 55 

(vii) 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

SECTION  VIII. 
The  Social  Bearings  of  Christianity,  and  the  Civil  Duties  incum- 
bent on  Christians 67 

SECTION  IX. 
Denominational  Differences 77 


SECTION  X. 
Special  Questions  for  the  Consideration  of  Christians  in   the 
United  States 87 

SECTION  XI. 
Public  Education  in  the  United  States,  considered  in  its  Civil 
and  Religious  Aspects.     Religious  Instruction  in  the  Public 
Schools 89 

SECTION  XII. 
The  kind  of  Education  necessary,  &.c. —  The  Objections  of  the 
Hierarchy  97 

SECTION  XIII. 
The  Policy  of  Public  Schools  adopted  in  the  United  States. — 
The   Necessity   of  Religious    Instruction. —  Denominational 
DiflQculties. —  The  Nature  of  the  Religious  Instruction  to  be 
given  in  them 114 

SECTION  XIV. 
Professor  Stowe's  Report  on  Public  Schools,  made  to  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State  of  Ohio.     ^'  Thoughts  on  Popular  Educa- 
'     tion." 121 

SECTION  XV. 

The  Responsibility  of  devising  and  carrying  out  the  Policy  of 
Religious  Education  in  American  Schools  lies  upon  Christians.  125 

SECTION  XVI. 

Facilities  enjoyed  by  Christians.  —  The  Doctrine  of  Christian 
Philanthroj^y. — Future  Triumphs  of  Christianity,  where  to 
be  found 130 

Appendix  A 137 

Appendix  B 170 


THE  POSITION  OP  CHRISTIANITY 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

SECTION  I. 

Reference  to  the  position  of  Christianity  before  and  during  our  Revolu- 
tionary period  —  Formation  of  our  Political  institutions.  Religious 
liberty,  toleration  offered  to  all  —  Christian  toleration  —  not  merely 
toleration  to  Christians  and  others. 

Whatever  of  religious  intolerance  survived  our 
Colonial  history  was  nearly  worn  out  during  the 
period  of  our  struggle  for  independence.  That  was 
the  united  effort  of  men  of  various  Christian  denomi- 
nations, all  of  whom  appealed  to  God  for  the  justice 
of  their  common  cause  and  for  that  assistance  which 
only  Divine  wisdom  could  give,  and  all  of  whom  were 
grateful  for  that  Divine  favor  which  was  so  manifestly 
accorded.  Their  gratitude  to  the  Great  Giver  of  every 
good  gift  for  the  success  of  the  effort  was  shown  in 
very  many  unequivocal  acts  of  thankfulness  and 
praise.  They  felt  that  their  success  had  imposed  upon 
them  not  only  cause  of  gratitude  for  the  past,  but 
heavy  responsibilities  for  the  future.  They  could  not 
Ijut  realize  that  God  in  giving  them  the  victory  had 
made  no  distinction  of  persons  nor  of  denominations. 
The  blessing  was  common  to  all ;  it  was  becoming  in 

(9) 


10  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

all  that  their  thanksgiving  should  be  in  unison  and 
that  the  performance  of  the  accruing  duties  of  their 
position  should  be  harmonious.  It  was  in  this  spirit 
that  our  Eevolutionary  Fathers  addressed  themselves 
to  the  groat  task  which  lay  before  them.  That  task 
was  to  frame  such  political  institutions  as  might  secure 
to  them,  their  posterity  and  the  strangers  from  all  the 
world  who  should  seek  a  home  in  this  favored  land, 
all  the  liberty,  comfort  and  happiness  which  indivi- 
duals can  enjoy  consistently  with  the  peace,  welfare 
and  order  of  an  entire  nation.  What  they  had  won 
together  they  meant  to  enjoy  in  common ;  they  sup- 
posed that  the  exercise  of  the  same  virtues  of  self- 
denial,  patience  and  trust  in  God  which  had  given 
them  victory  in  a  struggle  for  existence,  would  secure 
to  them  all  the  blessings  of  peace,  liberty  and  industry. 
They  intended  that  the  soil  their  efforts  had  redeemed 
should  be  a  home  to  all  the  pilgrims  of  earth,  driven 
by  what  cause  soever  from  their  native  lands.  None 
were  excluded  from  the  enjoj^ment  of  the  benefits 
offered  in  a  residence  here,  whatever  their  political  or 
religious  opinions,  provided  they  submitted  themselves 
to  the  few  restraints  of  our  laws  and  demeaned  them- 
selves in  the  spirit  of  our  institutions.  It  was  an 
asylum  for  the  world  which  they  established ;  it  was 
a  benevolent  institution  which  they  constructed  and 
in  which  they  offered  to  receive  every  human  being 
who  would  enter  and  conform  to  its  regulations.  In 
proportion  as  these  regulations  were  few  in  number 
and  liberal  in  terms,  was  it  necessary  also  tliat 
they  should  be  firmly  enforced.  There  could  be  no 
national  liberty  without  law,  and  no  peace  without 
order.     In  offering  a  refuge  to  the  suffering  and  to 


IN     THE     UNITED     STATES.  11 

the  discontented  of  all  nations,  they  did  not  mean 
to  surrender  any  of  the  advantages  they  had  secured, 
nor  to  sacrifice  any  of  the  vital  piinciples  for  which 
they  had  contended.  They  offered  political  liberty, 
but  it  was  a  liberty  to  be  enjoyed  under  and  in 
consistency  with  our  legislation.  They  had  no 
intention  of  surrendering  their  political  institutions, 
in  their  form  or  spirit,  to  those  who  might  prefer  a 
despotic  or  monarchical  form  of  government.  There 
was  a  plain  and  necessary  limit  to  their  liberality ; 
neither  they  nor  their  descendants  nor  successors 
were  to  be  deprived  of  the  benefits  they  had  ofiered 
to  others,  under  any  pretence,  or  through  any  abuse 
of  the  privileges  thus  conferred.  This  reservation 
was  no  more  than  the  right  of  self-preservation. 
They  offered  political  freedom  to  all  who  might  need 
the  boon ;  but  they  did  not  offer  the  subversion  of 
the  very  fabric  they  had  reared  for  their  own  comfort 
and  as  an  asylum  to  all  others. 

There  was  another  hmitation  of  their  generosity 
equally  vital.  They  were  men  of  a  Christian  country ; 
they  reverenced  the  God  of  Christians ;  they  acknow- 
ledged the  revelation  of  his  will  contained  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures ;  they  derived  the  sanctions  of  their  insti- 
tutions, and  the  morality  of  their  legislation  and  of 
their  whole  social  system,  from  these  Scriptures.  They 
took  themselves,  and  offered  to  all  who  came,  religious 
liberty;  they  neither  bound  themselves  nor  others 
to  any  religious  observance  of  the  injunctions  of 
God's  word ;  but  they  neither  permitted  these  Scrip- 
tures nor  their  Author  to  be  blasphemed  nor  openly 
contemned,  nor  his  worship  to  be  disturbed.  They 
neither  estabHshed  nor  imposed  any  religious  formality 


12  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

or  doctrine  as  such,  but  tliey  did  not  permit  nor  con- 
template the  substitution  of  any  other  code  of  morality 
than  that  which  the  Scriptures  teach.  They  were 
fully  aware  of  the  debt  which  they  owed  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  of  the  vital  importance  of  its  influence 
paid  teachings  to  modern  civilization,  and  the}"  could 
not  abate  one  jot  from  the  advantages  thus  to  be 
gained.  They  constrained  no  man  to  be  a  Christian, 
nor  to  pretend  to  be  one;  but  they  held  every 
citizen  to  acquiesce  in  the  fact  that  Christianity  was 
paramount  to  all  other  religions  in  the  land,  —  that 
its  morality  was  their  morality,  that  its  God  was 
their  God,  and  that  it  pervaded,  controlled,  and 
shaped,  more  or  less,  all  their  institutions  and  legis- 
lation. 

It  was  in  the  very  spirit  of  true  Christianity  that 
the  hospitality  and  blessings  of  the  United  States 
were  offered  to  all  the  world ;  all  were  invited  to 
enjoy,  and  not  to  subvert.  The  Christian  men  of 
that  day  did  not  intend,  in  yielding  to  others  political 
and  religious  freedom,  to  lessen  their  own  privileges, 
nor  to  diminish  the  proper  authority  of  Christianity 
in  the  land;  they  intended  that  the  nation  should 
continue  to  be  a  Christian  nation, — that  Christian 
morality  should  still  pervade  its  legislation  and  social 
system,  and  that  Christianity  should  continue  to  have 
a  home  here,  at  least,  during  the  life  of  the  nation. 
They  did  not  place  Christianity  beneath  nor  over 
their  political  institutions :  it  w^as  rather  to  be  the 
atmosj)liere  which  they  breathed  who  administered 
them ;  it  was  to  be  the  source  of  their  inspiration 
who  sought  to  make  them  available  for  human 
advantasre.     These  institutions  and  laws  were  to  be 


IN    THE     UNITED     STATES.  13 

the  instruments  of  Christian  men,  for  the  good  of  the 
whole  human  family.  The  toleration,  which  was 
extended  to  all  who  chose  to  come  within  our  bor- 
ders, was  Christian  toleration.  The  Christianity  of 
that  day  did  not  disfranchise  itself;  it  did  not  admit 
that  it  was  inferior  to  any  other  form  of  religion,  nor 
did  .it  concede  that  any  other  was  its  equal;  it 
accepted  no  control  from  any  other,  nor  placed  itself 
under  any  dominion.  It  was  no  creature  of  the  law, 
nor  of  our  constitutions ;  it  acknowledged  them,  and 
they  acknowledged  it.  No  other  religion  could,  by 
any  possibility,  occupy  the  same  relations  to  the 
jDCople  and  their  government  as  Christianity.  It  did 
not,  therefore,  accept  toleration  at  the  hands  of  the 
men  who  framed  our  system ;  they  would  have 
blushed  at  such  a  sentiment.  Christianity  was  not 
a  supplicant  for  their  favor,  and  for  a  residence 
among  them ;  they  were  Christian  men,  exercising 
Christian  toleration  towards  others,  and  preparing  for 
its  continuance  in  all  time  to  come.  They  could  not, 
therefore,  intend,  in  any  degree,  to  lessen  the  benefits 
to  be  derived  from  this  association  with  Christianity ; 
they  regarded  it,  indeed,  as  the  very  bulwark  of  their 
labors,  and  they  believed  that  the  blessings  which 
would  flow  from  them  would  be  due  more  to  the 
infusion  of  Christian  sentiments  than  to  any  wisdom 
of  their  own. 

The  days  of  Church  Establishments,  or  the  union 
of  Church  and  State,  were  then  nearly  numbered  in 
this  country.  It  was  clearly  perceived  that  Chris- 
tianity claimed  no  secular  office  nor  power.  Its  mo- 
rality, as  tlie  morality  of  a  Christian  peojDle,  being 
already  an  ingredient  of  their  common  law,  was  to  be 


r 


14  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

carried  by  them  still  deeper  into  their  legal  and  social 
systems.  The  government  and  laws  were  to  be  ad- 
ministered by  Christian  people  :  not  by  Christianity, 
not  by  a  Church,  nor  by  any  Ecclesiastical  authority 
of  any  kind.  The  only  Christian  control  contemplated, 
was,  the  control  of  Christian  men  exercising  that  tole- 
ration which  Christianity  teaches.  It  was  felt  from 
the  beginning  that  such  institutions  as  were  prepared 
for  the  United  States  would  scarcely  be  safe  in  other 
than  Christian  hands,  or  in  hands  mainly  controlled 
by  Christian  influences. 

It  could  not  have  been  otherwise  than  the  intention 
of  the  founders  of  our  Republic  to  perpetuate  the 
Christianity  to  which  they  felt  so  deeply  indebted  and 
to  the  influences  of  which  they  chiefly  looked  for  the 
continuance  of  the  political  institutions  they  had  es- 
tablished. They  could  not  but  anticipate  that  any 
other  than  Christian  hands  would  abuse  the  ample 
powers  they  had  conferred  upon  officers  and  legisla- 
tors, and  they  must  have  ardently  desired  that  Chris- 
tian activity  and  purity  should  keep  pace  with  the 
growth  and  development  of  our  population  and  mate- 
rial prosperity.  These  desires  could  not  And  any 
shape  in  the  legal  enactments  of  that  period.  They 
had  launched  the  Republic  and  committed  her  to  the 
Christian  virtue  and  skill  of  those  who  were  to  be  the 
navigators  in  after  time.  Much  was  to  be  done  and 
learned  in  reference  to  the  wise  management  of  the 
great  structure.  The  entire  subject,  if  not  wholly 
new,  was  presented  in  an  entirely  new  aspect.  One 
of  the  first  charts  demanded  on  this  voyage  is  one 
which  to  this  day  has  never  been  adequately  sketched : 
that  is,  the  precise  potion  of  Christianity  in  our  po- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  15 

litical  institutions.  This  subject  should  have  been 
studied  and  carefully  developed  from  the  very  origin 
of  our  system.  The  neglect  has  been  so  great  and 
culpable,  that  errors  in  relation  to  it  have  taken  deep 
hold  of  many  truth-loving  minds.  It  is  now  held  by 
many  such,  though  they  may  not  actually  so  express 
their  opinion,  that  Christianity  js.  mexely  tolerated  by  "^ 
our  laws,  and  that  it  has  no  more  connection  with 
them  than  any  other  form  of  religion.  It  so  happens, 
according  to  this  opinion,  that  the  people  of  this 
country  are  Christians,  but  their  political  institutions, 
they  say,  have  nothing  to  do  with  that  fact  —  being 
equally  applicable  to  the  government  of  Hindoos  or 
Parsees.  They  exalt  the  idea  of  religious  liberty  into  an 
absolute  absurdity;  and  hold  that  a  plea  of  the  rights 
of  conscience  takes  precedence  of  every  other  conside- 
ration. If  this  plea  had  any  such  interpretation  in 
our  system,  it  would  overturn  it  when  carried  rigidly 
to  its  logical  results.  If  a  man  can  be  protected  in 
any  opinion  or  any  religious  belief  simply  because  it 
is  the  dictate  of  his  conscience,  he  may  set  up  doc-1 
trines  subversive  alike  of  government  and  of  Chris-' 
tianity,  and  claim  exemption  from  all  accountability 
under  the  plea  of  religious  liberty.  Such  is  neither 
the  spirit  nor  the  fact  of  our  institutions,  which  accord 
without  limit  or  restraint  neither  political  nor  religious 
liberty. 

Ours,  from  the  beginning,  was  eminently  a  land  of  ^ 
law.  Just  and  necessary  restraints  are  placed  on 
every  hand ;  no  man  is  permitted  to  fix  for  himself 
the  limits  of  his  religious  or  of  his  political  rights. 
All  these  are  to  a  necessary  extent  subjects  of  law 
and  public  control.     The  utmost  liberty  is  allowed 


16  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

which  is  consistent  with  pubKc  harmony  and  the  good 
of  the  whole  community. 

No  rednciio  ad  ahsurdum  can  be  more  complete 
than  that  to  which  this  claim  of  unlimited  religious 
liberty  is  reducible ;  and  the  only  reason  it  has  not 
been  long  since  driven  from  the  minds  of  fair  men,  is 
because  the  topic  being  regarded  as  one  of  great  deli- 
cacy is  not  often  mentioned;  and  the  argument  is 
seldom  pushed  far  enough  to  betray  its  utter  weakness. 
The  Christians  of  this  country  really  tolerate  only 
what  is  not  inconsistent  with  their  morality.  They 
could  not  inhabit  a  country  in  which  any  obscene, 
profane,  murderous  or  idolatrous  rites  might  be 
practiced  under  their  eyes  in  the  name  of  any  religion. 
As  it  is  of  the  very  spirit  of  our  people  to  resist  such 
an  aggression  as  this  upon  their  religious  position,  so 
it  is  of  the  very  essence  of  our  legislation  to  forbid  it. 
*",We  are  a  Christian  people:  our  code  of  morals  is 
/Christian,  our  social  system  is  Christian,  and  our 
vcivilization  is  Christian.  This  is  our  privilege  and 
our  pride.  Shall  we  then  directly  or  indirectly  admit 
a  principle,  which,  carried  out,  would  prevent  any 
national  acknowledgment  of  God,  and  sever  every  re- 
lation between  us  as  a  people  and  Christianity  ? 

Such  an  act  of  national  skepticism  or  impiety  was 

never  for  an  instant  contemplated  by  the  founders  of 

these  republics.     Any  open,  undisguised  proposition 

to  establish  such  a  principle  would  now  send  a  thrill 

of  horror  through  the  whole  land,  and  bring  upon  its 

proposers  the  indignation  of  an  entire  population. 

r     We  are  not  a  nation  of  Christians ;  but  this  is  a 

j  Christian  nation.     Christianity  has  all  the  authority 

(  and  control  over  our  legislation,  our  institutions  and 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  17 

their  administrations,  which,  according  to  its  true 
spirit,  it   can   or  ever  will   claim,  —  that   which  is 
exercised  through  the  wisdom,  energy,  and  influence 
of  individual  Christians.     Will  the  Christians  of  this 
country  abdicate  this  right,  and  concede  the  principle^;, 
that  heathens,  idolaters,  or  Buddhists   are   entitled  I 
to  an  equal  participation  in  all  the  benefits  of  oury 
government  ? 


SECTION  n. 

Constitution  of  the  United   States  —  Its  relations  -with  Christianity. 
Oaths  of  Office  —  Religious  tests  and  establishments. 

Certain  provisions  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  are  sometimes  cited  in  support  of 
the  position  that  the  instrument  itself  does  not,  in 
any  manner,  recognize  Christianity,  and  that  the 
sjDirit  of  our  political  institutions  is  adverse  to  any 
such  recognition.  Let  us  examine  whether  these 
provisions  are  not,  in  fact,  in  perfect  harmony  with 
the  principles  for  which  we  contend.  The  clause 
to  which  we  shall  first  refer  is  that  which  requires 
that  all  the  officers,  "  both  of  the  United  States  and 
of  the  several  States,  shall  be  bound  by  oath  or 
affirmation  to  support  this  constitution.  But  no  reli- 
gious test  shall  ever  be  required,  as  a  qualification  to 
any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States." 

The  nature  of  official  and  judicial  oaths  and  af- 
firmations in  this  country  is  so  well  known  that  we 
need  only  say  that  such  oaths  and  affirmations  are 
directly  or  impliedly,  an  appeal  to  the  Supreme 
Being,  or  an  invocation  of  God  to  be  witness  of  our 
2 


18  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

sincerity,  or  of  the  truth  of  our  averments.  AYe 
need  not  argue  or  prove  that  this  Gocl,  to  whom  all 
our  public  officers  appeal,  or  whom  they  solemnly 
invoke,  is  the  God  of  Christianity.  No  man,  so  far 
as  we  know,  has  been  hardy  enough  to  deny  this ; 
such  a  denial  would  shock  the  moral  sense  of  the 
whole  country.  What,  then,  is  the  purport  of  this 
clause  ?  It  is  simply  this,  that  this  very  Constitution, 
Avhich  has  been  supposed  by  some  to  repudiate  Chris- 
tianity, doeg  not  commit  itself,  either  for  the  inter- 
pretation of  its  intent,  or  the  administration  of  its 
provisions,  to  any  officers,  judicial,  legislative,  or  ex- 
ecutive, unjil  tliey  have  first  sworn  or  promised 
before  God  to  support  it. 

So  far,  therefore,  from  discarding  Christianity  and 
disowning  God,  the  framers  of  this  great  Charter 
made  an  appeal  to  the  Christian's ^od,  an  indispen- 
sable preliminary  to  exercising  any  high  office  in  a 
State  or  in  the  nation.  Before  taking  this  oath  no 
man  could  assume  authority  under  this  Constitu- 
tion; it  w^as  the  bond  of  fidelity,  it  was  made  a 
public  security  for  tlie  faithful  discharge  of  official 
duties,  and  for  the  proper  administration  of  the 
Constitution  itself  Upon  this  bond,  placed  among 
the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  by  men  represent- 
ing a  Christian  community,  the  life  and  working  of 
the  instrument  was  rested.  They  committed  it  to 
the  charge  of  posterity  only  on  condition  of  their 
solemnly  declaring  before  God  that  they  would  sup- 
port it.  When  the  true  nature  of  an  oath  or  an 
affirmation  before  God  is  considered,  this  clause  of  the 
Constitution  is  fraught  with  a  significancy  so  preg- 
nant that  we  can  well  understand  why  it  wns  thought 


IN    THE     UNITED     STATES.  19 

needful  to  restrict  its  meaning  by  the  provision  whicli 
follows. 

The  restriction,  however  important,  and  w^e  add 
proper,  leaves  a  force  and  meaning  to  the  clause  large 
and  strong  enough  to  cover  every  Christian  claim.  It 
leaves  the  administration  of  the  Constitution  only  to 
those  who  shall  promise  before  God  to  maintain  it 
inviolate.  As  members  of  a  Christian  community 
they  no  doubt  felt  they  could  not  do  less,  and  they 
knew  they  could  not  do  more.  They  exacted  the 
highest  obligation  of  fidelity  known  to  Christians. 
They  put  the  Christian  seal  upon  the  Instrument,  that 
it  might  never  be  violated  so  long  as  Christian  obliga- 
tions should  be  the  highest  known  to  the  people. 

But  these  were  men  of  toleration.  They  had  seen 
and  heard  and  known  enough  of  religious  tests  and 
establishments  to  make  them  irreconcilable  enemies 
of  all  intolerance  and  religious  tyranny.  They  were 
framing  political  institutions  intended  to  afford  the 
largest  civil  and  religious  liberty  consistent  wdth  public 
order  and  good  government.  They  prescribed  to  all 
an  oath  —  a  promise  before  God,  to  every  man,  before 
he  could  lay  an  official  hand  upon  the  Constitution ; 
but  they  forbade  any  "religious  test  to  be  required  as 
a  qualification  to  office."  If  this  provision  had  stood 
alone  in  the  Instrument,  no  oath  could  have  been 
imposed  upon  those  accepting  office :  but  coming  as  a 
limitation  of  the  previous  clause,  its  import  is  not  only 
clear,  but  in  perfect  consistency  with  the  whole  spirit 
of  the  Constitution  and  its  authors.  No  man  was 
permitted  to  accept  of  an  office  without  a  virtual  ac- 
knowledgment of  God,  but  no  religious  test  was  ever  ^, 
to  be  required;  that  is,  among  the  numberless  and 


20  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

conflicting  religious  opinions  no  distinction  was  ever 
to  be  made.  The  officer  is  required  to  make  the  oath 
or  affirmation,  but  in  no  other  respect  is  his  religious 
behef  to  be  brought  in  question.  It  was  needful  that 
this  restriction  should  be  broad  enough  to  shut  out  all 
possibility  of  its  being  evaded  by  sectarian  ascendency. 
The  Constitution  makes  therefore  no  distinction, 
except  that  between  those  who  are  willing  before  God 
to  swear  or  affirm,  and  those  who  may,  from  religious 
scruples,  refuse  either  to  swear  or  affirm.  Such  as 
thus  refuse  cannot  take  office  under  it.  All  others, 
whatsoever  their  religious  opinions,  may  take  official 
station,  without  inquiry  into  their  sincerity  or  consis- 
tency in  assuming  this  solemn  engagement.  The 
framers  of  the  Constitution  gave  it  therefore  the 
broadest  possible  basis  consistent  with  the  fact,  that  it 
recognized  the  Christian's  God,  and  was  thereafter  to 
be  ever  administered  by  men  acknowledging  Him  as 
the  Supreme  Being. 

•  The  Christian  nation  which  adopted  this  Consti- 
f  tution  invited  the  people  of  every  country  to  come 
r  and  live  under  it ;  but  in  so  doing  they  did  not  abdi- 
cate their  Christian  ascendency  nor  proclaim  that 
their  institutions  were  purged  of  the  Christian  element. 
They  avowed  toleration,  and  not  infidelity,  as  their 
great  principle.  They  said  to  all  the  persecuted  and 
suffi3ring  throughout  the  world,  Come  and  dwell  with 
us  and  you  may  enjoy  manifold  advantages  and  immu- 
nities. We  are  a  Christian  people,  our  institutions 
are  constructed  with  reference  to  Christianity,  and 
are  intended  to  be  administered  under  its  light  and 
influences ;  it  teaches  us  to  offer  you  the  largest 
Christian  liberty  ever  enjoyed  by  a  civilized  people  — 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  ^1 

the  largest  possible  consistent  with  the  existence  of 
Christianity  itself.  It  is  the  light  of  Christianity 
which  enables  us  to  offer  this  boon  to  all  people,  but 
while  we  make  the  boon  great  we  can  never  permit 
the  light  to  be  extinguished  which  disposes  and 
enables  us  to  confer  this  signal  favor.  The  right  of 
private  judgment  will  be  accorded  to  all  who  come  to 
our  shores  to  the  utmost  extent  consistent  with  the 
continued  existence  and  comfortable  enjoyment  of  our 
present  Christianity.  In  offering  these  advantages 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty  to  the  people  of  every 
creed  and  nation,  they,  our  ancestors,  did  not  concede 
any  principle  of  the  great  work  they  had  just  finished; 
they  did  not  propose  to  take  down  their  fabric  or 
fashion  it  to  the  taste  of  all  who  might  take  refuge 
within  its  walls ;  they  did  not  propose  to  place  the 
existence  of  Christianity  and  Christian  civilization  in 
our  land  at  the  mercy  of  those  wdio  should  make  their 
abode  with  us ;  they  intended  to  extend  a  real  Chris- 
tian toleration  to  all  people,  but  they  did  not  mean 
that  the  idolators  or  pagans  who  might  come  among 
us  should  be  regarded  in  their  turn  as  tolerating 
Christians.  They  intended  that  it  should  remain  a 
Christian  land,  and  that  the  glory  of  its  toleration 
should  continue  to  be  ascribed  to  its  true  origin, 
Christianity. 

In  his  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution,  Judge 
Story  (vol.  3.  §  1841),  speaking  of  this  clause,  re- 
marks, "It  is  not  introduced  merely  for  the  purpose 
of  satisfying  the  scruples  of  many  respectable  persons" 
wdio  feel  an  invincible  repugnance  to  any  religious 
test  or  affirmation.  It  had  a  higher  object :  to  cut 
off  forever  every  pretence  of  any  alliance  between 


22  TUE    POSITIOX    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

Church  and  State  in  the  National  Government."  It 
Avas  not  intended  to  cut  off  or  put  any  slight  upon 
Christianity.  It  was  the  deliberate  severance  of 
Church  and  State,  and  a  declaration,  that  according  to 
their  views,  there  neither  was  nor  should  be  any  such 
alliance.  They  admitted  no  other  connection  between 
Church  and  State  than  Avhat  existed  betvreen  the 
people  and  their  government.  The  Constitution  was 
to  be  maintained,  upheld  and  administered  by,  as  its 
makers  trusted,  a  Christian  people.  They  did  not 
commit  the  perpetuation  of  Christianity  to  the  Con- 
stitution, but  they  committed  the  Constitution,  as  a 
sacred  trust,  to  the  Christian  people  who  were  to  be 
its  protectors  and  administrators;  and  having  provided 
against  sectarian  partialities,  they  never  believed  it 
would  be  safe  in  any  other  hands  than  those  under 
Christian  influences.  This  is  plain  from  innumerable 
facts  and  considerations  which  appear  in  all  our 
history  as  a  people. 

It  would  have  been  easy  to  declare,  in  so  many 
words,  that  Christianity  should  have  no  precedence 
in  our  system  over  any  other  religion ;  to  have  abol- 
ished official  and  judicial  oaths,  to  have  repealed  all 
enactments  in  reference  to  the  Lord's  day,  to  have 
prohibited  the  appointment  of  Chaplains  or  the  pro- 
clamation of  Thanksgivings;  and  finally,  by  one 
sweeping  statute,  to  have  severed  the  existing  con- 
nection between  our  common  law  and  Christianity, 
thus  legalizing  blasphemy  and  abolishing  our  code 
of  morals,  the  basis  of  Christian  civilization.  So  flir 
from  this,  whatever  be  our  short-comings  as  a  religious 
people,  every  page  of  our  history  reveals  the  great 


IN     THE    UNITED     STATES.  23 

fact  that  as  a  nation  we  acknowledge  the  God  of  the 
Bible  and  no  other. 

We  revert  again  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  The  first  article  of  the  amendments  provides 
that,  "  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  es- 
tablishment of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise 
thereof."  This  is  an  explicit  prohibition  of  any  union 
of  Church  and  State.  The  theory  of  the  framers  of 
this  Instrument  was,  that  there  need  not  be  and 
should  not  be  any  union  of  our  ecclesiastical  with  our 
political  institutions;  that  the  relations  of  Government 
with  Christianity  should  be  through  individuals  and 
not  through  Churches ;  and  that  the  bearings  of 
Christianity  on  the  legislation  and  administration  of 
Government  should  be  that  which  is  effected  by  the 
influences  and  efforts  of  Christian  citizens.  They  not 
only  offered  religious  toleration  to  all  who  differed 
from  them  in  opinion,  but  they  gave  them  a  voice  and 
a  vote  in  reference  to  the  mode  in  which  that  Christian 
toleration  should  be  exercised.  They  not  only  extended 
toleration  to  those  of  different  faith,  but  they  gave 
these  securities  to  those  who  might  avail  themselves 
of  it,  providing  however,  that  if  the  tolerated  party 
should  become  dominant,  no  law  should  ever  be  made 
prohibiting  the  free  exercise  of  religion.  They  agree 
not  to  establish  Christianity  as  a  religion,  but  ex- 
pressly provide  that  no  law  shall  ever  prohibit  its 
free  exercise.  Any  other  religion  inconsistent  with 
Christianity  may  be  prohibited,  but  the  Christion  reli- 
gion is  declared  to  be  out  of  the  reach  of  Congres- 
sional interference.  Legislation  may  promote  the 
interests  of  religion  by  any  measures  not  inconsistent 
with  toleration,  but  it  cannot  destroj^  them.    Congress 


24  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

has  power,  and  with  that  power  devolves  the  duty  to 
provide  for  the  general  welfare  of  the  United  States ; 
so  far  as  it  can,  it  should  promote  the  interests  of 
religion  as  one  of  the  most  efficient  means  of  promo- 
ting the  general  welfare :  its  powers  in  this  respect 
are  only  limited  by  what  is  due  to  the  right  of  private 
judgment  by  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  itself 
and  by  what  is  due  to  that  Christian  toleration  which 
is  of  the  essence  of  our  institutions. 


sectio:n"  m. 


Citations  from  Story's  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Chaplains  for  Army  and  Navy,  —  De  Tocqueville,  Alex. 
Hamilton. 

This  subject  is  discussed  at  some  length  in  his 
Commentaries  on  the  Constitution  by  Judge  Story, 
one  of  the  ablest  of  our  writers  on  jurisprudence  and 
constitutional  law,  long  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  of  high  repute  for  learning  and 
sound  opinions.  We  take  from  his  remarks  on  the 
clause  of  the  Constitution  just  quoted,  a  few  passages 
which  sustain  our  views. 

"  It  is  impossible  for  those  who  believe  in  the  truth 
of  Christianity  as  a  divine  revelation  to  doubt  that  it 
is  the  especial  duty  of  government  to  foster  and  en- 
courage it  among  all  the  citizens  and  subjects.  This 
is  a  point  wholly  distinct  from  that  of  the  right  of 
private  judgment  in  matters  of  religion  and  of  the 
freedom  of  public  worship  according  to  the  dictates 
of  one's  conscience."     (vol.  3,  page  723,  §  18G5.) 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  25 

'''  Now  there  will  probably  be  found  few  persons  in 
this  or  any  other  Christian  country  who  would  delibe- 
rately contend  that  it  was  unreasonable  or  unjust  to 
foster  and  encourage  the  Christian  religion  generally 
as  a  matter  of  sound  policy  as  well  as  of  revealed  j 
truth.  In  fact,  every  American  colony,  from  its 
foundation  down  to  the  Revolution,  with  the  exception 
of  Rhode  Island  (if  indeed  that  State  be  an  exception), 
did  openly  by  the  whole  course  of  its  laws  and  insti- 
tutions, sustain  in  some  form  the  Christian  religion ; 
and  almost  invariably  gave  a  peculiar  sanction  to 
some  of  its  fundamental  doctrines.  And  this  has  i 
continued  to  be  the  case  in  some  of  the  States  down 
to  the  present  period,  without  the  slightest  suspicion 
that  it  was  against  the  principles  of  public  law  or  re- 
publican liberty.  Indeed,  in  a  republic  there  would 
seem  to  be  a  peculiar  propriety  in  viewing  the  Chris- 
tian religion  as  the  great  basis  on  which  it  must  rest 
for  its  support  and  permanence,  if  it  be  what  it  has 
ever  been  deemed  by  its  truest  friends  to  be,  the  reli- 
gion of  liberty."     {Ibid  page  724,  §  1867.) 

"  Probably  at   the   time  of  the    adoption  of  the 
Constitution,  and  of  the  amendment  to  it  now  under 
consideration,  the  general,  if  not  the  universal  senti-y 
ment   in  America  was,  that   Christianity  ought   to> 
receive  encouragement  from  the  State,  so  far  as  was  > 
not  incompatible  with  the  rights  of  conscience  and 
the  freedom  of  religious  worship.      An  attempt  to 
level  all  religions,  and  to  make  it  a  matter  of  State 
policy  to  hold  all  in  utter  indifference,  would  have 
created    universal    disapprobation,    if    not    universal 
indignation."*    (Ibid.  726,  §  1868.) 

*  Lloyd's  Debates,  195,  19G. 


J*©-  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

"  It  yet  remains  a  problem  to  be  solved  in  human 
affairs,  whether  any  free  government  can  be  perma- 
nent, Avhere  the  public  worship  of  God  and  the  sup- 
port of  religion  constitute  no  part  of  the  policy  or 
duty  of  the  State,  in  any  assignable  shape.  Th^ 
future  experience  of  Christendom,  and  chiefly  of  the 
American  States,  must  settle  this  problem,  as  yet 
new"  in  the  history  of  the  world,  abundant  as  it  has 
been  in  experiments  in  the  theory  of  government." 
{Ihid.  §  1869.) 

/    "  But  the  duty  of  supporting  religion,  and  especially 

<the  Christian  religion,  is  very  different  from  the  right 

/to  force  the  conscience  of  other  men,  or  to  punish 

Hhem  for  w^orshipping  God  in  the  manner  which  they 

believe  their  accountability  to  him  requires."      '•'      ^ 

"  The  rights  of  conscience  are  indeed  beyond  the  just 

reach  of  any  human  powder.      They  are  given  by 

God,    and   cannot   be   encroached   upon   by   human 

authority  without  a  criminal  disobedience  of  the  pre- 

■  cepts  of  natural    as  well   as  of  revealed   religion." 

{Ihid.  §  1870.) 

/  "  The  real  object  of  the  amendment  was  not  to 
/countenance,  much  less  to  advance  Mahometanism, 
or  Judaism,  or  infidelity,  by  prostrating  Christianity ; 
NDut  to  exclude  all  rivalry  among  Christian  sects,  and 
to  prevent  any  national  ecclesiastical  establishment 
wdiich  should  give  to  an  hierarchy  the  exclusive 
patronage  of  the  national  governnlent.  It  thus  cut 
off  the  means  of  religious  persecution  (the  vice  and 
pest  of  former  ages),  and  of  the  subversion  of  the 
rights  of  conscience  in  matters  of  religion,  which  had 
been  trampled  upon  almost  from  the  days  of  the 
Apostles  to  the  present  age."     [Ihid.  §  1871.) 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

"  It  was  under  a  solemn  consciousness  of  the  clan- 
gers from  ecclesiastical  ambition,  the  bigotry  of 
spiritual  pride,  and  the  intolerance  of  sects,  thus 
exemplified  in  our  domestic  as  well  as  in  foreign 
annals,  that  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  exclude  from 
the  national  government  all  power  to  act  upon  the 

subject."     "  Thus  the  whole  power  over 

the  subject  of  religion  is  left  exclusively  to  the  State 
governments,  to  be  acted  on  according  to  their  own 
sense  of  justice  and  the  State  Constitutions ;  and  the 
Catholic  and  the  Protestant,  the  Calvinist  and  the 
Arminian,  the  Jew  and  the  Infidel,  may  sit  down  at 
the  common  table  of  the  national  councils  without 
any  inquisition  into  their  faith  or  mode  of  worship." 
{Ihid.  p.  730,  §  1873.) 

It  must  be  remarked,  that  the  last  paragraph  refers 
to  the  dangers  of  "  ecclesiastical  ambition,"  and  of 
course  to  churches  or  bodies  of  men  organized  as  such. 
The  only  power  which  Congress  has  over  the  subject 
is  that  which  relates  to  the  welfare  of  the  country  in 
its  moral  and  religious  aspects,  and  that  under  the 
limitations  we  have  already  mentioned.  Congress 
has  no  power  over  the  subject  as  it  relates  to  any 
church  or  ecclesiastical  body.  It  can  recognize  the 
fact  that  this  is  a  Christian  country,  it  can  promote 
the  welfare  of  its  Christian  citizens  as  such,  it  can 
impose  no  form  of  worship,  it  can  force  no  man's  con- 
science, but  it  can  seize  many  occasions  of  favoring 
the  interests  of  Christianity ;  it  can,  so  long  as  a  ma- 
jority desire  it,  by  its  own  Chaplain,  ask  the  blessing  J 
of  God  upon  its  deliberations,  but  it  could  not  enforce  \ 
the  presence  of  any  member  who  objected  to  this  act  - 


2%  THE    POSITION"    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

of  worship.  In  fact,  the  members  of  Congress  have 
only  such  powers  in  relation  to  religion  as  belong  to 
them  individually  and  such  as  have  not  been  excluded 
from  their  consideration  by  the  Constitution  itself. 
The  power  thus  left  to  Congress,  though  exceedingly 
restricted,  would  be  large  if  exercised  for  the  good  of 
the  whole  nation  in  the  enlarged  sjDirit  of  that  Chris- 
tianity which  requires  men  to  love  others  as  they  love 
themselves.  Under  this  great  law  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  has  power  to  promote  the  general 
welfare  to  the  full  extent  of  all  their  wisdom  and  skill 
without  trenching  on  any  religious  dogma  in  a  way  to 
excite  jealousy  or  apprehension  even  in  the  most  sen- 
sitive. 

The  labor  of  the  country,  and  of  course  the  destiny 
and  welfare  of  laborers,  is  obviously  within  the  reach 
of  the  national  legislature.  Christianity  teaches  that 
the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,  and  it  imposes  upon 
those  who  have  the  power,  the  duty  of  not  only 
shielding  them  from  harm  and  imposition,  but  of  pro- 
moting their  interests  in  every  way  which  may  be 
consistent  with  justice  and  mercy  and  not  inconsistent 
with  the  interests  of  society  at  large.  So  Congress 
can  promote  the  interests  of  Christianity  as  a  means 
of  ensuring  national  well-being,  provided  the  prin- 
ciple of  toleration  be  not  violated.  It  would  undoubt- 
edly be  right  in  Congress  to  view  the  whole  subject 
of  the  welfare  of  the  people  for  whcfm  it  legislates  in 
the  light  of  Christianity.  It  may  not  take  any  notice") 
of  the  homage  which  men  owe  to  God,  but  it  cannot^ 
wholly  overlook  the  duties  which  men  owe  to  one 
another.  It  may  restrain  selfishness  and  promote 
within   the   range   of  its  action,  general  well-being, 


'^ 


IN    THE     UNITED     STATES.  29 

though  it  cannot  enforce  any  reUgious  tenet  or  form 
of  doctrine. 

The  disposition  of  the  National  Legislature  to  act 
in  accordance  with  these  principles  was  shown  from 
the  earliest  period  of  their  action.     A  Chaplain  was 
chosen  to  open  their  meetings  with   prayer  and   to 
preach  on  the  Lord's  day.     Chaplains  were  by  law 
provided  for  in  the  Army  and  Navy.     In  the  Act  for 
the  better  government  of  the  Navy  of  the   United 
States,  is  the  following  clause :  "  The  commanders  of  i 
all  ships  and  vessels  in  the  Navy  having  a  Chaplain 
on  board,  shall  take  care  that  Divine  service  be  per-- 
formed  in  a  solemn  and  reverent  manner  twice  a  day,  \ 
a  sermon  preached  on  Sunday,  unless  bad  weather  or 
other  extraordinary  accidents  jDrevent  it ;  and   that  \ 
they  cause  as  many  of  the  ship's  company  as  can  be 
spared  from  duty,  to  attend  every  performance  of  the 
worship  of  Almighty  God."     (1  Story's  Laws  U.  S.  / 
761.) 

In  the  Act  establishing  rules  and  regulations  for 
the  Army  of  the  United  States,  is  the  following 
clause :  "  It  is  earnestly  recommended  to  all  officers 
and  soldiers  diligently  to  attend  Divine  service." 
This  is  followed  by  severe  penalties  for  improper 
behavior  at  any  place  of  Divine  worship;  and  by 
another  clause  visiting  with  penalties  any  officer  or 
soldier  "  who  shall  use  any  profane  oath  or  execra- 
tion;" and  by  another,  providing  penalties  against 
"every  Chaplain  commissioned  in  the  Army  or 
Armies  of  the  United  States,  who  shall  absent  himself 
from  the  duties  assigned  him."  (2  Story's  Laws 
U.  S.  992.) 

We  might  add  to  these  many  other  proofs  of  Con- 


3f) 


THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 


(gressional   acknowledgment  of  Christianity,  but  we 
/shall  advert  further  only  to   a  joint   resolution   of 
both    Houses  on  the  occasion  of  the  War  of  1812. 
"It  being  a  duty  j^eculiarly  incumbent  in  a  time  of 
public  calamity  humbly  and  devoutly  to  acknowledge 
our  dependence  on  Almighty  God  and  to  imjolore  His 
aid  and  j)rotection,  therefore  resolved,  that  a  joint, 
committee  of  both  Houses  w^ait  on  the  President  andv 
request  him  to  recommend  a  day  of  j^ublic  humiliation  j 
and  prayer,  to  be  observed  by  the  people  of  the  United 
States  with  religious  solemnity  and  the  offering  of 
fervent  supplications  to  Almighty  God  for  the  safety 
of  these  States  and  the  s^Dcedy  restoration  of  peace." 
Upon  occasion  of  the  restoration  of  peace  in  1815, 
Congress  again  united  in  recommending  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  day  of  Thanksgiving.     President  Madison 
acceded   to  both  these   legislative  requests,  and  the 
days  were  appointed  and  observed.     Various  Presi- 
dents have  since  then  made  similar  appointments.    It 
is  therefore  abundantly  evident,  that  this  Nation,  both 
in  its    Legislative  and  Executive  capacity,  acknow-  ^ 
ledges  God  and  the  Revelation  of  His  wall  in  Chris-  \ 
tianity. 

This  national  homage  to  God  has  not  failed  to  strike 
the   notice  of  observing   strangers,  who  attentively 
regard  the  working  of  our  political  institutions.     One 
of  the  most  profound  Statesmen  who  has  visited  our 
country,  remarks  :  "  There  is  no  country  in  the  whole 
world  in  which  the  Christian  religion  retains  a  greater  -^ 
influence  over  the  souls  of  men  than   in  America ; 
and  there  can  be  no  greater  proof  of  its  utility  and  »/ 
conformity  to  human  nature,  than  that  its  influence  - 
is  most  powerfully  exercised  over  the  most  enlightened 


IN"    THE    UNITED    STATES.  oi 

and  free  nation  of  the  earth."     "In  the 

United  States  rehgion  exercises  but  little  influence 
upon  the  laws,  and  upon  the  details  of  public  opinion ; 
but  it  directs  the  manners  of  the  community,  and  by 
regulating  domestic  life  it  regulates  the  Sjjite."  .  .  . 
"  Christianity,  therefore,  reigns  without  any  obstacle, 
by  universal  consent ;  the  consequence  is,  that  every 
principle  of  the  moral  world  is  fixed  and  determinate, 
although   the   political  world   is  abandoned   to   the 

debates  and  experiments  of  men."     "I 

cannot  say  that  all  Americans  have  a  sincere  faith  in 
their  religion,  for  who  can  search  the  human  heart  ? 
but  I  am  certain  that  they  hold  it  to  be  indispensable 
to  the  maintenance  of  republican  institutions.  This 
opinion  is  not  peculiar  to  a  class  of  citizens  or  a  party, 
but  it  belongs  to  the  whole  nation  and  to  every  rank 

of  society."     "  The  Americans   combine 

the  notion  of  Christianity  and  of  liberty,  so  intimately, 
in  their  minds,  that  it  is  impossible  to  make  them 
conceive  the  one  without  the  other."  ....  ''  Such' 
are  the  opinions  of  Americans ;  and  if  any  hold  that 
the  religious  spirit  which  I  admire  is  the  thing  most 
amiss  in  America,  and  that  the  only  element  wanting 
to  the  freedom  and  happiness  of  the  human  race  is  to 
believe  in  some  blind  cosmogony,  &c.,  I  can  only 
reply  that  those  who  hold  this  language  have  never v-' 
been  in  America,  and  that  they  have  never  seen  a  re- 
ligious or  free  nation."  (De  Tocqueville,  American 
Institutions,  chap,  xvii.) 

We  might  readily  multiply  such  testimonies  to  thev- 
Christian  character  of  our  institutions.     We   might 
also    have    quoted    largely    from    the   v/ritings    and 
speeches   of  the  very   Fathers   of  our  country,  the 


oZ  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

authors  of  these  institutions;  but  this  would  have 
carried  us  into  a  field  far  too  wide  for  the  limits  of 
this  essay.  It  is  worthy  of  mention,  however,  that 
when  the  infidelity  which  characterized  the  French 
Revolution  of  the  last  century  had  spread  its  poisonous 
influences  even  to  our  shores,  it  became  a  source  of 
serious  disquietude  to  the  good  men  of  that  day,  and 
especially  to  our  Revolutionar}'  Fathers  then  survi- 
ving. Hamilton,  in  a  letter  to  Bayard,  dated  in  1802,  ^ 
proposes  the  formation  of  a  National  Societj',  under 
the  title  of  "  Christian  Constitutional  Society,"  having 
for  its  object,  "  1st,  The  support  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion ;"  "  2nd,  The  support  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States."     (Hamilton's  Works,  vol.  vi.  p.  542.) 


SECTION  rv^ 

The  early  Constitutions  of  the  American  States  on  the  subject  of  Chris- 
tianity and  Eeligious  liberty. 

The  Constitutions  of  many  of  the  original  thirteen 
States  contained  a  very  marked  acknowledgment  of 
Christianity.  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  con- 
tinued under  the  government  of  the  ancient  Charters, 
of  Puritan  origin  and  founded  on  Christian  principles. 
The  States  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  and 
New  Jersey,  by  their  Constitutions,  expressly  recog- 
nized Protestant  Christianity,  whilst  they  expressly 
provide  for  the  privilege  of  worshipping  God  according 
to  the  dictates  of  conscience.  That  of  New  Hamp- 
shire had  these  provisions,  "  That  morality  and  piety 
rightly  grounded  on  evangelical  principles  would  give 


Ttf 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  33 

the  best  and  greatest  security  to  government,  and 
would  lay  on  the  hearts  of  men  the  strongest  obliga- 
tions to  due  subjection." 

The  Constitution  of  Massachusetts  has  the  follow- 
ing :  "  That  as  the  happiness  of  a  people,  and  the 
good  order  and  preservation  of  civil  government,  essen- 
tially depend  upon  piety,  religion,  and  morality ;  and 
as  these  cannot  be  generally  diffused  through  a  com- 
munity but  by  the  institution  of  the  public  worship 
of  God  and  of  public  instruction  in  piety,  religion  and 
morality,  therefore"  &c.  Then  follows  a  provision 
for  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  public  wor- 
ship, and  for  the  maintenance  of  "  public  Protestant . 
teachers  of  piety,  religion  and  morality."  It  prescribes 
also  that  the  person  chosen  Governor,  Lieutenant 
Governor,  Senator  or  Representative,  shall  subscribe 
a  solemn  profession,  "  that  he  believes  the  Christian 
religion,  and  has  a  firm  persuasion  of  its  truth." 

The  first  Constitution  of  New  York  is  dated  in  1777. 
It  strongly  guarded  the  rights  of  conscience  and  reli- 
gious worship.  It  excluded  the  Clergy  from  public 
offices  of  a  secular  nature,  on  the  express  ground,  that 
by  their  profession  they  were  dedicated  to  the  service 
of  God  and  to  the  cure  of  souls,  and  ought  not  to  be 
diverted  from  the  great  duties  of  their  functions. 

The  first  Constitution  of  New  Jersey  is  dated  in 
1776.  The  ISth  section  provides,  "  That  no  person 
shall  ever  within  this  colony  be  deprived  of  the  ines- 
timable privilege  of  worshipping  God  in  a  manner 
agreeable  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience ;  nor 
be  compelled  to  attend  any  place  of  worship,  nor  to 
pay  tithes,  taxes,  &c.,  to  build  churches  or  maintain 
ministers  —  also,  that  there  shall  be  no  establishment 
3 


34,  THE    POSITION    or    CHRISTIANITY 

of  any  one  religious  sect — -that  no  Protestant  shall  be 
denied  any  civil  right." 

The  first  Constitution  of  Pennsylvania,  made  in 
the  year  1776,  requires  each  member  of  the  Legisla- 
ture to  make  this  solemn  declaration  :  "  I  do  believe 
in  one  God,  the  Creator  and  Governor  of  the  Universe, 
the  Kewarder  of  the  good  and  the  Punisher  of  the 
wicked,  and  I  do  acknowledge  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament  to  be  given  by  Divine 
inspiration." 

The  Constitution  of  Delaware,  made  in  177G,  re- 
quires all  officers  and  members  of  the  Legislature  to 
subscribe  the  following  declaration :  "  I  do  profess 
faith  in  God  the  Father  and  in  Jesus  Christ  his  only 
Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  one  God,  blessed  forever- 
more  ;  and  I  do  acknowledge  the  Holy  Scriptures  of 
the  Old  and  New  Testament  to  be  given  by  Divine 
insj)iration." 

The  Constitution  of  Maryland,  made  in  1776,  em- 
powers the  Legislature  to  lay  a  general  tax  for  the 
support  of  the  Christian  religion.  No  tests  are  per- 
mitted, except,  an  oath  of  office,  an  oath  of  allegiance, 
and  "  a  declaration  of  belief  in  the  Christian  religion." 

In  Virginia,  previous  to  our  National  Independence, 
religion  was  established  by  law.  No  mention  was 
made  of  the  subject  in  a  Constitution  drawn  up  under 
the  influence  of,  if  not  by,  Jefferson  himself 

The  Constitution  of  North  Carolina,  adopted  in 
1776,  provides,  "That  no  person  Avho  should  deny 
the  being  of  a  God,  or  the  truth  of  the  Protestant  reli- 
gion, or  the  Divine  authority  of  either  the  Old  or  the 
New  Testament,  or  who  should  hold  religious  principles 
incompatible  with  the  freedom  or  safety  of  the  State, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  35 

should  be  capable  of  holding  any  office  or  place  of 
trust  in  the  civil  government  of  the  State." 

The  Constitution  of  South  Carolina,  made  in  1788, 
expressly  ordains,  that  "  the  Christian  religion  be 
deemed  and  is  hereby  constituted  and  declared  to  be, 
the  established  religion  of  the  land."  It  excludes 
from  the  Legislature,  and  from  the  office  of  Governor 
and  Lieutenant  Governor,  and  from  the  privy  council, 
V  all  who  are  not  Protestants.  It  provides  for  Pro- 
testant religious  worship  and  the  incorporation  of 
congregations  under  the  description  of  "  Societies  of 
Christian  Protestants,"  prescribing  a  strictly  orthodox 
formula  as  the  condition  of  mcorporation.  It  contains 
also  the  form  of  a  declaration  of  very  stringent 
nature  to  be  made  and  subscribed  by  every  Minister 
before  he  can  enter  upon  the  pastoral  office. 

The  Constitution  of  Georgia,  made  in  1777,  pre- 
scribes that  "  all  members  of  the  House  of  Assembly 
shall  be  of  the  Protestant  religion." 

These  State  Constitutions  were  formed  before  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  The  principles  of 
toleration  were  at  work,  but  had  not  sufficiently 
liberalized  the  minds  of  the  Statesmen  who  drew  up 
these  early  Charters.  It  was  not  until  after  the 
termination  of  the  War  and  the  formation  of  the 
National  Constitution,  that  the  subject  of  toleration 
began  to  be  understood.  But  even  then  there  was  a 
confusion  of  ideas  on  the  whole  subject  of  the  relation 
of  our  political  institutions  with  Christianity,  which 
made  it  a  desideratum  that  some  competent  hand 
should  draw  up  a  bold  outUne  of  these  relations, 
which  could  be  readily  comprehended  and  made  the 
basis   thereafter   of    Constitutional   and    Legislative 


36  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

action.  This  has  never  yet  been  done,  and  the  cause 
of  truth  and  Christianity  has  suffered  by  the  omission  y 
more  than  can  be  easily  estimated.  Not  so  much, 
however,  in  reference  to  the  duty  of  toleration,  as  in 
a  clear  perception  of  the  position  and  bearings  of 
Christianity  after  full  toleration  had  been  accorded. 

In  all  the  States,  we  believe,  the  distinctions  made 
in  favor  of  Protestantism  have  been  removed  and  the 
rights  of  conscience  expressly  acknowledged  and 
secured.  That  is,  the  right  to  worship  God  according 
to  his  own  tenets  or  views  is  guaranteed  to  every 
citizen.  No  rights  are  by  these  provisions  guaranteed 
to  infidels  or  unbelievers ;  they  have  other  rights  as 
citizens  which  are  secured  by  Constitutions  and  laws, 
but  they  can  claim  no  privileges  of  any  kind  under  a 
guarantee  of  religions  liberty.  They  are  in  fact  fully 
tolerated  by  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  so  long  as 
their  unbelief  is  not  in  any  manner  exerted  against 
Christianity,  either  by  profanity,  blasphemy  or  by 
writing  or  speaking  maliciously  against  religion. 

"  Rights  of  conscience  are  religious  rights,  that  is, 
the  right  to  entertain  and  utter  religious  opinions,  and 
to  enjoy  public  religious  worship.  This  expression, 
in  its  widest  acceptation,  cannot  include  irreligion, — 
opinions  contrary  to  the  nature  of  religion,  subversive 
of  the  reverence,  love  and  service  due  to  God,  of 
virtue,  morality  and  good  manners."  (Dr.  Baird's 
Religions  in  America,  book  iii.  chap.  9.) 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  37 


SECTION  V. 

the  existing  constitutions  of  the  several  states. 

Maine. 
To  save  the  trouble  of  reference,  we  proceed  to  give 
some  of  the  leading  provisions  of  the  existing  State 
Constitutions  in  regard  to  religion.  Art.  I.  sect.  3. 
'•  All  men  have  a  natural  and  inalienable  right  to 
worship  Almighty  God  according  to  the  dictates  of 
their  own  consciences,  and  no  one  shall  be  hurt,  mo- 
lested or  restrained  in  his  person,  liberty  or  estate, 
for  worshipping  God  in  the  manner  and  season  most  p^x.t<^^^\ 
agreeable  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience,  nor  for 
his  religious  professions  or  sentiments,  provided  he  does 
not  disturb  the  public  peace,  nor  obstruct  others  in 
their  religious  worship;  and  all  persons  demeaning 
themselves  peaceably,  as  good  members  of  the  State, 
shall  be  equally  under  the  protection  of  the  laws,  and 
no  subordination  nor  preference  of  any  one  sect  or 
denomination  to  another  shall  ever  be  established  by 
law,  nor  shall  any  religious  test  be  required  as  a 
qualification  of  any  office  under  this  State." 

New  Hampshire. 
After  a  provision  nearly  in  the  same  words  as  that 
of  Maine,  the  Constitution  of  New  Hampshire  has  in 
Part  I.  sect.  G,  this  clause  :  '*'  As  morality  and  piety, 
rightly  grounded  on  evangelical  principles,  will  give 
the  best  and  greatest  security  to  government,  and  will 
lay  in  the  hearts  of  men  the  strongest  obligations  to 
due  subjection,"  &c. :  then  follows  a  provision  to  f 
encourage  the  public  worship  of  God  and  authority  to 
the  Legislature  to  incorporate  religious  societies,  &c. 


38         the  position  of  christianity 

Vermont. 
To  a  provision  nearly  identical  with  that  of  Maine, 
Vermont  adds,  "  Nevertheless,  every  sect  or  denomi- 
nation of  Christians  ought  to  observe  the  Sabbath  or 
Lord's  day,  and  keep  up  some  sort  of  religious  worship 
which  to  them  shall  seem  most  agreeable  to  the  re- 
vealed will  of  God."     (Chap.  I.  sect.  3.) 

Massachusetts. 

Part  I.  sect.  2.  "It  is  the  right  as  well  as  the  duty 
of  all  men  in  society  publicly  and  at  stated  seasons  to 
worship  the  Supreme  Being,  the  Great  Creator  and 
Preserver  of  the  Universe.  And  no  subject  shall  be 
hurt,  molested  or  restrained  in  his  person,  liberty  or 
estate,  for  worshipping  God  in  the  manner  and 
seasons  most  agreeable  to  the  dictates  of  his  con- 
science ;  or  for  his  religious  profession  or  sentiments, 
provided  he  does  not  disturb  the  public  peace  or 
obstruct  others  in  their  religious  worship." 

3.  "As  the  happiness  of  a  people  and  the  good 
order  and  preservation  of  civil  government,  essentially 
depend  upon  piety,  religion  and  morality,  and  as 
these  cannot  be  generally  diffused  throughout  the 
community  but  by  the  institution  of  a  public  worship 
of  God  and  of  public  institutions  of  piety,  religion 
and  morality,  therefore  to  promote  their  happiness 
and  to  secure  the  good  order  and  preservation  of  their 
government,"  the  Legislature  is  authorized  to  make 
provision  "  for  such  public  worship  and  such  institu- 
tions," &c.,  "  in  all  cases  where  such  provision  shall 
not  be  made  voluntarily."  It  is  provided  that  every 
man  who  contributes  under  a  law  of  the  State  to  the 
support  of  religion,  "  may  designate  to  what  denomi- 
nation his  tax  shall  be  applied." 


in  the   united   states.  39 

Rhode  Island. 

"We,  the  people  of  Rhode  Island,  grateful  to 
Almighty  God  for  the  civil  and  religious  liberty  He 
hath  so  long  permitted  us  to  enjoy,  and  looking  to 
Him  for  a  blessing  upon  our  endeavors  to  secure  and 
transmit  the  same  unimpaired  to  succeeding  genera- 
tions, do  ordain,"  &c. 

Art.  I.  sect.  3.  "Whereas,  Almighty  God  hath 
created  the  mind  free,  and  all  attempts  to  influence 
by  temporal  punishment  or  burthens,  or  by  civil  in- 
capacitation, tend  to  beget  habits  of  hypocrisy  and 
meanness ;  and  whereas,  a  principal  object  of  our 
venerated  ancestors  in  their  migration  to  this  country 
and  their  settlement  of  this  State,  was,  as  they  ex- 
pressed it,  to  hold  forth  a  lively  experiment,  that  a 
flourishing  civil  State  may  stand  and  be  best  main- 
tained with  full  liberty  in  religious  concernments; 
we  therefore,"  &c.  Then  follows  a  clause  similar  to 
that  of  Maine. 

Connecticut. 

The  Preamble  to  the  Constitution  begins  with, 
"  acknowledging  with  gratitude  the  good  Providence 
of  God  in  having  permitted  them"  (the  people)  "  to 
enjoy  a  free  government,"  &c. 

Art.  I.  sect.  3.  "  The  exercise  and  enjoyment  of 
religious  profession  and  worship,  without  discrimina- 
tion, shall  forever  be  free  to  all  persons  in  this  State  : 
provided,  that  the  right  hereby  declared  and  estab- 
lished shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  excuse  acts  of 
licentiousness  or  to  justify  practices  inconsistent  with 
the  peace  and  safety  of  the  State." 

Sect.  4.  "No  prefei^ence  shall  be  given  by  law  to 
any  Christian  sect,  or  mode  of  worship." 


40         the  position  of  christianity 

New  York. 

Preamhle.  "  We,  the  people  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  grateful  to  Almighty  God  for  our  freedom,"  &c. 

Art.  I.  sect.  3.  "  The  free  exercise  and  enjoyment 
of  religious  profession  and  worship,  without  discrimi- 
nation or  preference,  shall  forever.be  allowed  in  this 
State  to  all  mankind;  and  no  person  shall  be  rendered 
incompetent  to  be  a  witness  on  account  of  his  opinions 
in  matters  of  religious  belief:  but  the  liberty  of  con- 
science, hereby  secured,  shall  not  be  so  construed  as 
to  excuse  acts  of  licentiousness  or  justify  practices 
inconsistent  with  the  peace  or  safety  of  this  State." 

New  Jersey. 

The  Preamble  of  the  Constitution  is  identical  with 
that  of  Rhode  Island,  given  above. 

Art.  I.  sect.  3.  "No  person  shall  be  deprived  of 
the  inestimable  privilege  of  worshipping  Almighty 
God  in  a  manner  agreeable  to  the  dictates  of  his  own 
conscience."  Then  follows  the  provision,  that  no 
person  shall  be  compelled  to  attend  upon  any  worship 
or  pay  any  tithes  or  taxes  for  support  of  any  church 
or  ministry.  "There  shall  be  no  establishment  of 
one  religious  sect  in  preference  to  another :  no  religious 
test  shall  be  required  as  a  qualification  for  any  office 
or  public  trust,  and  no  person  shall  be  denied  the 
exercise  of  any  civil  right,  merely  on  account  of  his 
religious  principles." 

Pennsylvania. 
Art.  IX.  sect.  3.     "  That  all  men  have  a  natural 
and  indefeasible  right  to  worship  Almighty  God  ac- 
cording to  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences ;  that 
no  man  can  of  right,  be  compelled  to  attend,  erect  or 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  41 

support  any  place  of  worship,  or  to  maintain  any 
ministry  against  his  own  consent;  that  no  human 
authority  can,  in  any  case  whatever,  control  or  inter- 
fere with  the  rights  of  conscience ;  and  that  no  prefe- 
rence shall  ever  be  given  by  law  to  any  religious 
establishment  or  modes  of  worship." 

Sect  4.  "  That  no  person  acknowledging  the  Being 
of  a  God  and  a  future  state  of  rewards  and  punish- 
ments, shall,  on  account  of  his  religious  sentiments, 
be  disqualified  to  hold  any  office  or  place  of  trust  or 
profit  under  this  Commonwealth." 

Delaware. 
The  Constitution  begins,  "  Through  Divine  goodness 
all  men  have,  by  nature,  the  rights  of  worshipping 
and  serving  their  Creator  according  to  the  dictates  of 
their  consciences,"  &c.  "  Although  it  is  the  duty  of 
all  men  frequently  to  assemble  together  for  the  public 
w^orship  of  the  Author  of  the  Universe;  and  piety 
and  morality,  on  which  the  prosperity  of  communities 
depends,  are  thereby  promoted,  yet  no  man  can  or 
ought  to  be  compelled  to  attend  any  religious  worship, 
or  to  contribute  to  the  erection  or  support  of  any 
place  of  worship,  or  to  the  maintenance  of  any 
ministry,  against  his  own  free  will  and  consent ;  and 
no  power  shall  or  ought  to  be  vested  in  or  assumed 
by  any  magistrate,  that  shall  in  any  case  interfere 
with  or  in  any  manner  control,  the  rights  of  conscience 
in  the  free  exercise  of  religious  worship :  nor  shall  a 
preference  be  given  by  law  to  any  religious  societies, 
denomination  or  modes  of  worship.  No  religious  test 
shall  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office  or 
trust  under  this  State." 


42         the   position  of  christianity 

Maryland. 
The  thirty-third  section  of  the  Declaration  of 
Eights,  prefixed  to  the  Constitution,  reads  :  "  That  as 
it  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  worship  God  in  such 
manner  as  he  thinks  most  acceptable  to  Him,  all 
persons  are  equally  entitled  to  protection  in  their 
religious  liberty :  wherefore,  no  person  ought,  by  any 
law,  to  be  molested  in  his  person  or  estate  on  account 
of  his  religious  persuasion  or  profession,  or  for  his 
religious  practice  :  unless,  under  color  of  religion,  any 
man  shall  disturb  the  good  order,  peace  or  safety  of 
the  State,  or  shall  infringe  the  laws  of  morality,  or 
injure  others  in  their  natural,  civil  or  religious  rights; 
nor  ought  any  person  to  be  compelled  to  frequent  or 
maintain,  or  contribute,  unless  on  contract,  to  maintain 
any  place  of  worship  or  any  ministry ;  nor  shall  any 
person  be  deemed  incompetent  as  a  witness  or  juror 
who  believes  in  the  existence  of  a  God,  and  that 
under  His  dispensation  such  person  will  be  held 
morally  accountable  for  his  acts  and  be  rewarded  or 
punished  therefor,  either  in  this  world  or  the  world 
to  come."  "  That  no  other  test  or  qualification  ought 
to  be  required  on  admission  to  any  office  of  trust  or 
profit,  than  such  oath  of  office  as  may  be  prescribed, 
&c.,  and  a  declaration  of  belief  in  the  Christian  reli- 
gion ;  and  if  the  party  shall  profess  to  be  a  Jew,  the 
declaration  shall  be  of  his  belief  in  a  future  state  of 
rewards  and  jDunishments." 

Virginia. 
The  sixteenth  section  of  the  Bill  of  Rights,  prefixed 
to  the  Constitution  of  Virginia,  reads :  "  That  religion 
or  the  duty  which  we  owe  to  our  Creator,  and  the 


IN"    THE    UNITED    STATES.  48 

manner  of  discharging  it,  can  be  directed  only  by 
reason  and  conviction,  and  not  by  force  and  violence ; 
and  therefore,  all  men  are  equally  entitled  to  the 
free  exercise  of  religion,  according  to  the  dictates  of 
conscience ;  and  that  it  is  the  mutual  duty  of  all  to 
practise  Christian  forbearance,  love  and  charity, 
towards  each  other." 

North  Carolina. 
Art.  ly.  sect.  2.  "  No  person  who  shall  deny  the 
being  of  a  God,  or  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion, 
or  the  Divine  authority  of  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment, or  who  shall  hold  religious  principles  incom- 
patible with  the  freedom  or  safety  of  the  State,  shall 
be  capable  of  holding  any  office  or  place  of  trust  or 
profit  in  the  civil  department  within  this  State." 

South  Carolina. 

Art.  VIII.  sect.  1.  "The  free  exercise  and  enjoy- 
ment of  religious  profession  and  worship,  without  dis- 
crimination or  preference,  shall  forever  hereafter  be 
allowed,  within  this  State,  to  all  mankind ;  provided, 
that  the  liberty  of  conscience  thereby  declared,  shall 
not  be  so  construed  as  to  excuse  acts  of  licentiousness, 
or  justify  practices  inconsistent  with  the  peace  and 
safety  of  this  State." 

In  the  twenty-third  section  of  the  first  article, 
"  Ministers  of  the  Gospel"  are  rendered  ineligible  to 
the  office  of  Governor  or  Lieutenant-Governor,  or  to  a 
seat  in  the  Senate  or  House  of  Representatives,  on 
the  ground  that  they  are,  '•  by  their  profession,  dedi- 
cated to  the  service  of  God  and  the  care  of  souls,  and 
ought  not  to  be  diverted  from  the  great  duty  of  their 
functions." 


44         the   position  of  christianity 

Georgia. 
Art.  IV.  sect.  10.  "No  person  within  this  State 
shall,  upon  any  pretence,  be  deprived  of  the  inesti- 
mable privilege  of  worshipping  God  in  a  manner 
agreeable  to  his  own  conscience,  nor  be  compelled  to 
attend  any  place  of  worship  contrary  to  his  own  faith 
and  judgment;  nor  shall  he  ever  be  obliged  to  j)ay 
tithes,  taxes,  or  any  other  rate,  for  the  building  or 
repairing  any  place  of  worshij),  or  for  the  maintenance 
of  any  Minister,  contrary  to  what  he  believes  to  be 
right,  or  hath  voluntarily  engaged  to  do.  No  one 
religious  society  shall  ever  be  established  in  this  State 
in  preference  to  any  other,  nor  shall  any  person  be 
denied  the  enjoyment  of  any  civil  right,  merely  on 
account  of  his  religious  principles." 

Florida. 
Section  3d  of  the  Declaration  of  Rights,  prefixed  to 
the  Constitution,  is,  "  That  all  men  have  a  natural 
and  inalienable  right  to  worship  Almighty  God  ac- 
cording to  the  dictates  of  their  own  conscience ;  and 
that  no  preference  shall  ever  be  given  by  law  to  any 
religious  establishment,  or  mode  of  worship,  in  this 

State." 

Alabama. 

Art.  I.  sect.  3.  of  the  Declaration  of  Rights,  pre- 
fixed to  the  Constitution,  is,  "  No  person  within  this 
State  shall,  upon  any  pretence,  be  deprived  of  the 
inestimable  privilege  of  worshipping  God  in  the 
manner  most  agreeable  to  his  own  conscience,  nor  be 
compelled  to  attend  any  place  of  worship ;  nor  shall 
any  one  ever  be  obliged  to  pny  any  tithes,  taxes,  or 
other  rate,  for  the  building  or  repairing  any  place  of 


^ 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  45 

worship,  or  for  the  maintenance  of  any  Minister  or 
ministry." 

Sect.  4.  "No  human  authority  ought,  in  any  case 
whatever,  to  control  or  interfere  with  the  right  of 
conscience." 

Sect.  5.  "No  person  shall  be  hurt,  molested,  or 
restrained  in  his  religious  professions,  sentiments,  or 
persuasions,  provided  he  does  not  disturb  others  in 
their  religious  worship." 

Sect.  6.  "  The  civil  rights,  privileges,  or  capacities, 
of  any  citizen  shall  in  no  way  be  diminished  or  en- 
larged on  account  of  his  religious  principles." 

Sect.  7.  "  There  shall  be  no  establishment  of  reli- 
gion by  law ;  no  preference  shall  ever  be  given  by  law 
to  any  religious  sect,  society,  denomination,  or  mode 
of  worship ;  and  no  religious  test  shall  ever  be  required 
as  a  qualification  to  any  office  or  public  trust  under 

this  State." 

Mississippi. 

Art.  I.  sect.  3,  4,  5.  "  The  exercise  and  enjoyment 
of  religious  profession  and  worship,  without  discrimi- 
nation, shall  forever  be  free  to  all  persons  in  this 
State ;  provided,  that  the  right  hereby  declared  and 
established  shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  excuse  acts 
of  licentiousness,  or  justify  practices  inconsistent  with 
the  peace  and  safety  of  the  State." 

Sect.  4.  "  No  preference  shall  ever  be  given  by  law 
to  any  rehgious  sect  or  mode  of  worship." 

Sect.  5.  "  That  no  person  shall  be  molested  for  his 
opinions  on  any  subject  whatever,  nor  suffer  any  civil 
or  political  incapacity,  or  acquire  any  civil  or  political 
advantages,  in  consequence  of  such  opinions,  except 
in  cases  provided  in  this  Constitution."     (The  excep- 


46  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

tion  relates  to  a  provision  against  duelling.     See  Art. 
VII.  sect.  1,  2.) 

Art.  VII.  sect.  14.  "  Religion,  morality  and  know- 
ledge being  necessary  to  good  government^  the  pre- 
servation of  liberty,  and  the  happiness  of  mankind, 
schools,  and  the  means  of  education,  shall  forever  be 
encouraged  in  this  State." 

Tennessee. 

Section  3,  article  I.,  is  nearly  identical  with  section 
3,  of  article  IX.,  of  that  of  Pennsylvania,  which  is 
cited  above.  Section  4  reads,  "  That  no  religious  test 
shall  ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office 
or  public  trust  under  this  state."  Section  3,  of  article 
VIII.,  empowers  the  Legislature  to  pass  laws  exempt- 
ing from  attendance  upon  private  and  general  musters 
citizens  belonging  to  any  denomination  known  to  be 
opposed  to  bearing  arms.  Section  1,  of  article  IX., 
excludes  Ministers  of  the  gospel  from  a  seat  in  the 
Legislature  in  nearly  the  same  terms  as  are  employed 
in  the  Constitution  of  South  Carolina.  Section  2,  of 
article  IX.,  reads,  "  No  person  who  denies  the  being 
of  a  God,  or  a  future  state  of  rewards  or  punishments, 
shall  hold  any  office  in  the  civil  department  of  this 

State." 

Kentucky. 

Section  5,  of  article  XIII.,  of  the  Constitution,  is 
identical  with  the  3d  section  of  the  9th  article  of  that 
of  Pennsylvania,  cited  above.  The  6th  section  is, 
"  That  the  civil  rights,  privileges,  or  capacities  of  any 
citizen  shall  in  no  wise  be  diminished  or  enlarged  on 
account  of  his  religion." 


in  the   united   states.  47 

Ohio. 
The  Constitution  begins,  "  We,  the  people  of  the 
State  of  Ohio,  grateful  to  Almighty  God  for  our  free- 
dom, to  secure  its  blessings,  and  promote  our  common 
welfare,  do  establish  this  Constitution."  The  seventh 
section  of  the  first  article  is,  in  its  first  portion,  nearly 
identical  with  the  third  section  of  the  ninth  article  of 
that  of  Pennsylvania.  The  remainder  is  thus  :  "  No 
religious  test  shall  be  required  as  a  qualification  for 
office,  nor  shall  any  person  be  incompetent  to  be  a 
witness  on  account  of  his  religious  belief;  but  nothing 
herein  shall  be  construed  to  dispense  with  oaths  and 
affirmations.  Religion,  morality,  and  knoT^ledge, 
however,  being  essential  to  good  government,  it  shall 
be  the  duty  of  the  General  Assembly  to  pass  suitable 
laws  to  protect  every  religious  denomination  in  the 
peaceable  enjoyment  of  its  own  mode  of  public  wor- 
ship, and  to  encourage  schools  and  the  means  of 
instruction." 

Indiana. 

The  preamble  has  these  words :  "  We,  the  people 
of  the  State  of  Indiana,  grateful  to  Almighty  God  for 
the  free  exercise  of  the  right  to  choose  our  own  form 
of  government,  do  ordain  this  Constitution." 

Art.  I.  sect.  1.  "We  declare  that  all  men  are  cre- 
ated equal ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  inalienable  rights,"  &c. 

Sect.  2.  "All  men  shall  be  secured  in  the  natural 
right  to  worship  Almighty  God  according  to  the  dic- 
tates of  their  own  consciences." 

Sect.  3.  "  No  law  shall,  in  any  case  what- 
ever, control   the    free   exercise   and  enjoyment   of 


48  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

religious   opinion,  or   interfere   with   the   rights   of 
conscience." 

Sect.  4.  "No  preference  shall  be  given  by  law 
to  any  creed,  religious  society  or  mode  of  worship; 
and  no  man  shall  be  compelled  to  attend,  erect  or 
support  any  place  of  worship,  or  to  maintain  any 
ministry,  against  his  consent." 

Sect.  5.  "  No  religious  test  shall  be  required  as  a 
qualification  for  any  office  of  trust  or  profit." 

Sect.  6.  "  No  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  trea- 
sury for  any  religious  or  theological  institution." 

Sect.  7.  "  No  person  shall  be  rendered  incompetent 
as  a  witness,  in  consequence  of  his  opinions  on  matters 
of  religion." 

Illinois. 

The  Preamble  contains  the  same  words  we  have 
already  cited  from  the  Preamble  to  that  of  Rhode 
Island.  The  third  section  of  the  thirteenth  article 
contains  the  same  provision  as  that  in  the  third 
section  of  the  ninth  article  of  that  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  fourth  section  is,  "  That  no  religious  test  shall 
ever  be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office  of 
public  trust  under  this  State." 

Michigan. 

The  twenty-fourth  section  of  the  fourth  article  of 
the  Constitution,  reads,  ''  The  Legislature  may  autho- 
rize the  employment  of  a  Chaplain  for  the  State 
Prison ;  but  no  money  shall  be  ajDpropriated  for  the 
payment  of  any  religious  services  in  either  House  of 
the  Legislature." 

Art.  IV.  sect.  39.  "  The  Legislature  shall  pass  no 
law  to  prevent  any  person  from  worshiping  Almighty 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  49 

God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  or  to 
compel  any  person  to  attend,  erect  or  sujjport  any 
place  of  religious  worship,  or  to  ]3ay  tithes,  taxes  or 
other  rates,  for  the  support  of  any  minister  of  the 
gospel  or  teacher  of  religion." 

Sect.  40.  "  No  money  shall  be  appropriated  or 
drawn  from  the  treasury  for  the  benefit  of  any  reli- 
gious sect  or  society,  theological  or  religious  seminary, 
nor  shall  property  belonging  to  the  State  be  appro- 
priated for  any  such  purposes." 

Sect.  41.  "The  Legislature  shall  not  diminish  or 
enlarge  the  civil  or  political  rights,  privileges  and 
capacities  of  any  person,  on  account  of  his  opinion  or 
belief  concerning  matters  of  religion." 

Missouri. 

The  fourth  section  of  the  eleventh  article  of  the 
Constitution,  is  the  same  in  substance,  and  nearly  in 
words,  as  the  third  section  of  the  ninth  article  of  that 
of  Pennsylvania. 

The  5th  section  provides,  "  That  no  person,  on 
account  of  his  religious  opinions,  can  be  rendered 
ineligible  to  any  office  of  trust  or  profit  under  this 
State  :  that  no  preference  can  ever  be  given  by  law 
to  any  sect  or  mode  of  worship,  and  no  religious  cor- 
poration can  ever  be  established  in  this  State.  No 
religious  sect  or  society  should  be  permitted  to  accu- 
mulate or  hold  in  mortmain,  large  bodies  of  land  or 
other  property,  and  all  extensive  ecclesiastical  perpe- 
tuities are  dangerous  to  liberty  :  Provided,  that  any 
religious  society  may  hold,  in  any  assumed  name,  so 
much  land  as  may  be  necessary  for  a  house  and  build- 
ings for  public  worship  —  for  a  parsonage  and  for  a 
4 


50  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

burying  ground,  and  for  no  other  purpose  whatever ; 
but  no  congregation  shall  own  for  such  purposes  more 
than  one  acre  of  land  in  a  town,  nor  more  than  ten 
acres  in  the  country." 

Arkansas. 
The  third  section  of  the  second  article  of  the  Con- 
stitution is  the  same  as  the  third  section  of  the  ninth 
article  of  that  of  Pennsylvania ;  and  the  fourth  section 
of  the  second  article  of  that  of  Arkansas  is,  in  sub- 
stance, the  same  as  the  forty-first  section  of  the  fourth 
article  of  that  of  Michigan,  cited  above. 

Texas. 

The  Constitution  begins  thus :  "  We,  the  people 
of  Texas,  acknowledging  with  gratitude  the  grace  and 
beneficence  of  God  in  permitting  us  to  make  a  choice 
of  our  form  of  government,  do,"  &c.  &c. 

The  fourth  section  of  article  first  of  the  Constitution 
of  Texas,  is  the  same  with  the  third  section  of  the 
ninth  article  of  that  of  Pennsylvania,  the  following 
sentence  being  added  :  "  But  it  shall  be  the  duty  of 
the  Legislature  to  pass  such  laws  as  shall  be  neces- 
sary to  protect  every  religious  denomination  in  the 
peaceable  enjoyment  of  their  own  mode  of  public 
worship."  The  previous  section  prohibits  religious 
tests  as  a  qualification  for  office. 

Iowa. 

The  Constitution  commences,  "  We,  the  people  of 
Iowa,  grateful  to  the  Supreme  Being  for  the  blessings 
hitherto  enjoyed,  and  feeling  our  dependence  on  Him 
for  a  continuation  of  these  blessings,  do  ordain,"  &c. 

Art.  II.  sect.  3.  "  The  General  Assembly  shall 
make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  51 

or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof,  nor  shall  any 
person  be  compelled  to  attend  any  place  of  worship, 
pay  tithes,  taxes,  or  other  rates,  for  building  or  re- 
pairing places  of  worship,  or  for  the  maintenance  of 
any  minister  or  ministry." 

Sect.  4.  ^'  No  religious  test  shall  be  required  as  a 
qualification  for  any  office  or  public  trust,  and  no 
person  shall  be  deprived  of  any  of  his  rights,  privileges 
or  capacities,  or  disqualified  from  the  performance  of 
any  of  his  public  or  private  duties,  or  rendered  incom- 
petent to  give  evidence  in  any  court  of  law  or  equity, 
in  consequence  of  his  opinions  on  the  subject  of 
religion." 

Wisconsin. 

The  Preamble  begins,  '--  \Ye,  the  people  of  Wis- 
consin, grateful  to  Almighty  God  for  our  freedom,"  &c. 

Art.  I.  sect.  18.  "The  right  of  every  man  to 
worship  Almighty  God  according  to  the  dictates  of 
his  own  conscience  shall  never  be  infringed."  This 
section  proceeds  nearly  in  the  words  of  section  third 
in  the  ninth  article  of  that  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
concludes  in  these  words  :  "  Nor  shall  any  money  be 
drawn  from  the  treasury  for  the  benefit  of  any  reli- 
gious societies,  or  religious  or  theological  seminaries." 

Section  nineteen  is  in  substance  the  same  as  section 
four  of  article  second  of  that  of  Iowa,  cited  above. 

California. 
Art.  I.  sect.  4.  "  The  free  exercise  and  enjoyment 
of  religious  profession  and  worship,  without  discrimi- 
nation or  preference,  shall  forever  be  allowed  in  this 
State ;  and  no  person  shall  be  rendered  incompetent 
to  be  a  witness  on  account  of  his  opinions  on  matters 


52  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

of  religious  belief,  but  the  liberty  of  conscience  hereby 
secured  shall  not  be  so  construed  as  to  excuse  acts  of 
licentiousness  or  justify  practices  inconsistent  with  the 
peace  or  safety  of  this  State." 


SECTION  VI. 

Remarks  on  the    Constitutional  Provisions  cited   in  the   Preceding 

Section. 

These  Constitutions  of  the  several  States  are  com- 
pacts between  the  people  of  a  State  collectively  and 
each  individual  of  the  State.  The  citizens  of  each 
State  are  a  Christian  people,  but  opposed  to  Church 
establishments  in  connection  with  the  State,  and  op- 
posed to  all  spiritual  domination.  Being  chiefly 
Protestants  and  entertaining  a  great  diversity  of 
views  on  the  subject  of  religion,  as  is  inevitable  where 
men  think  and  interpret  for  themselves,  they  felt  the 
necessity  of  mutual  forbearance  and  toleration ;  they 
perceived  that  whilst  Christianity  was  an  indispen- 
sable element  of  our  free  institutions,  it  was  needful 
that  it  also  should  be  free  and  untrammeled.  These 
Constitutions  then,  emanating  from  Christian  people, 
guarantee  to  each  individual  now  living  or  hereafter 
to  live  under  them,  that  he  shall  enjoy  the  right  of 
worshipping  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  con- 
science, without  restraint  or  molestation ;  that  he  shall 
not  be  compelled  to  attend,  build  or  repair  any  church, 
or  for  that  end  pay  tax,  tithe  or  rate ;  that  his  civil 
rights  shall  not  be  abridged  on  account  of  his  religious 


IN     THE     UNITED     STATES.  53 

opinions ;  that  no  religious  test  shall  be  interposed  to 
disqualify  him  for  office,  and  that  he  shall  not  be  in- 
competent as  a  witness  by  reason  of  his  religious 
opinions ;  but  they  provide  that  the  privileges  thus 
granted  shall  not  be  abused  by  any  immoral  or  licen- 
tious act,  or  any  attack  upon  Christianity  or  any  dis- 
turbance of  its  worship,  or  any  act  against  the  peace 
or  safety  of  the  State.  Under  these  constitutional 
guarantees  which  a  Christian  people  provide  for  their 
own  security  and  peace,  they  invite  all  who  are  in- 
clined, to  come,  subject  only  to  the  disabilities  in 
which  they  acquiesce  themselves. 

These  Constitutions  make  religion  free  by  making 
its  professors,  its  profession,  and  its  worship  free. 
Christianity  claims  no  special  establishment  and  no 
special  power,  civil  or  spiritual,  under  these  instru- 
ments. Its  security  is  higher  than  the  Constitution 
itself:  it  is  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  people  who 
framed  the  Constitution.  With  certain  qualifications, 
but  in  a  very  important  sense,  it  is  an  element  of  our 
common  or  unwritten  law.  This,  as  we  shall  pre- 
sently see,  has  been  solemnly  decided  by  many  of  our 
highest  courts  and  ablest  jurists. 

As  a  Christian  j)eople,  we  lay  one  hand  upon  the 
Bible  and  say,  "  This  is  the  Testament  from  which 
we  derive  our  religion  :"  and  the  other  upon  the  Con- 
stitution, and  say,  "  This  is  our  Social  Compact,  by 
which  we  mutually  guarantee  religious  liberty." 

Each  Constitution  exists  as  the  work  of  a  Chris- 
tian people :  it  neither  alters,  modifies,  enlarges 
nor  abridges  Christianity.  It  provides  against  all 
spiritual  domination  and  secures  full  personal  reli- 
gious   liberty.      The    liberty   of   worship    so    fully 


54  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

accorded,  is  the  liberty  to  worship  God,  the  God  of 
Christianity,  and  not  any  other  being  real  or  imagi- 
nary. Christianity  is  not  displaced  but  expressly 
recognized,  though  not  defined.  Its  exercise  is  left 
with  the  people,  its  liberty  is  secured  by  the  Consti- 
tution. 

If  no  such  constitutional  provisions  had  been 
made,  our  judicial  tribunals  must  have  developed  the 
common  law  doctrine  of  Christianity  to  the  same 
effect,  for  our  civil  liberty  would  necessarily  demand 
religious  liberty  and  obtain  it,  where  the  people  were 
the  fountains  of  power.  Our  written  Constitutions, 
our  unwritten  common  law,  public  sentiment  and  the 
deep  convictions  of  the  people,  are  in  perfect  accord, 
that  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  the  country  and 
that  religious  liberty  is  the  law  of  the  country.  All 
connection  between  Church  and  State  is  cut  off  here 
forever,  all  sectarian  preferences  are  precluded,  all 
spiritual  domination  is  absolutely  forbidden,  as  alike 
contrary  to  the  spirit  of  true  religion  and  dangerous 
to  free  institutions. 

The  benefits  of  Christianity  accrue  to  the  people 
j  individually  through  their  individual  piety,  and  to 
the  State  only  through  the  ^Diety  and  morality  of 
the  whole  people.  The  only  power  of  a  church  here, 
is  the  action  of  the  people  upon  the  government  within 
the  limits  prescribed  by  the  Constitution.  The  only 
expression  Christianity  can  make  of  her  wishes,  is 
through  the  people  upon  their  Legislatures  and  their 
laws,  and  upon  their  governments.  There  is  a  wide 
field  here  for  Christian  influence  and  action,  without 
trenching  on  Constitutional  limits. 

We  have  yet  to  notice,  before  proceeding  with  our 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  55 

remarks,  a  few  of  the  decisions  of  our  Courts  upon  the 
subject  of  Christianity.  They  shed  a  flood  of  light 
upon  this  neglected  subject. 


SECTION  vn. 

Judicial  Decisions  touching  Christianity. 

In  1822,  a  man  was  indicted  in  Pennsylvania  for 
blasphemy,  under  an  act  of  Assembly  dated  in  1700. 
He  was  convicted,  and  the  case  was  carried  to  the 
Supreme  Court,  in  which  it  was  contended  that  the 
act  of  1700,  punishing  blasphemy,  was  repugnant  to 
the  Constitution  of  1787-1790,  and  therefore  virtually 
repealed;  and,  moreover,  that  it  was  repugnant  to 
our  republican  institutions,  and  to  the  rights  of  con- 
science. The  opinion  was  delivered  by  Judge  Duncan, 
from  whose  decision  we  make  the  following  extracts : 

"  We  will  first  dispose  of  what  is  considered  the 
grand  objection — the  constitutionality  of  Christianity  ; 
for,  in  effect,  that  is  the  question." 

"Christianity — general  Christianity — is,  and  always 
has  been,  a  part  of  the  common  law  of  Pennsylvania ; 
Christianity  without  the  spiritual  artillery  of  Euro- 
pean countries ;  for  this  Christianity  was  one  of  the 
considerations  of  the  Royal  Charter,  and  the  very 
basis  laid  by  its  great  founder,  William  Penn.  Not 
Christianity  founded  on  any  particular  religious 
tenets ;  not  Christianity  with  an  established  church, 
and  tithes,  and  spiritual  courts,  but  Christianity  with 
liberty  of  conscience  to  all  men.     William  Penn  and 


56  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

Lord  Baltimore  were  the  first  Legislators  who  passed 
laws  in  favor  of  liberty  of  conscience ;  for  before  that 
period,  liberty  of  conscience  appeared  in  the  laws  of 
no  people,  in  the  axiom  of  no  government,  in  the  insti- 
tutes of  no  society ;  and  scarcelj^  in  the  temper  of  any 
man.  Even  the  reformers  were  as  furious  against 
contumacious  errors  as  they  were  loud  in  asserting 
the  liberty  of  conscience.  And  to  the  wilds  of  Ame- 
rica, peopled  by  a  stock  cut  off  by  persecution  from  a 
Christian  society,  does  Christianity  owe,  here,  freedom 
of  religious  opinion  and  religious  worship." 

Judge  Duncan  then  examines  the  English  decisions 
in  reference  to  Christianity,  and  shows  that  a  man 
is  not  punished  in  England  for  holding  erroneous 
opinions,  but  for  so  uttering  them  as  to  insult  or 
attack  Christianity.  He  quotes  the  words  of  Lord 
Mansfield,  in  Evans  vs,  the  Chamberlain  of  London  : 

"  The  true  principles  of  natural  religion  are  part 
of  the  common  law;  the  essential  principles  of  re- 
vealed religion  are  part  of  the  common  law ;  so  that 
a  person  subverting,  vihfying,  or  ridiculing  them, 
may  be  prosecuted  at  common  law;  but  temporal 
punishment  ought  not  to  be  inflicted  for  mere 
opinions." 

Judge  Duncan  proceeds  to  quote,  at  some  length, 
from  the  great  statute  of  toleration,  passed  in  Penn- 
sylvania in  the  days  of  William  Penn,  in  which  it  is 
provided  that  men  shall  not  be  compelled  to  conform 
to  any  religious  observances  but  their  own ;  but  which 
also  expressly  provides  against  the  creeping  in  of  any 
looseness,  irreligion,  and  atheism,  under  the  pretence 
of  rights  of  conscience.  "And  thus  it  is  irrefragably 
proved,"  he  remarks,  "  that  the  laws  and  institutions 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  57 

of  this  State  are  built  on  the  foundation  of  reverence 
for  Christianity." 

He  cites  Judge  Swift,  of  Connecticut :  —  "To  pro- 
hibit the  open,  public,  and  explicit  denial  of  the 
popular  religion  of  a  country,  is  a  necessary  measure 
to  preserve  the  tranquillity  of  a  government.  Of  this 
no  person  in  a  Christian  country  can  complain ;  for, 
admitting  him  to  be  an  infidel,  he  must  acknowledge 
that  no  benefit  can  be  derived  from  the  subversion  of 
a  religion  which  enforces  the  purest  morality."  He 
cites,  also,  a  decision  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  New 
York,  in  which  it  "was  solemnly  determined  that 
Christianity  was  a  part  of  the  law  of  the  land,  and 
that  to  revile  the  Holy  Scriptures  was  an  indictable 
offence."*  An  attempt  to  overrule  the  law  of  this 
case  was  made  in  a  subsequent  Convention  in  New 
York,  for  the  formation  of  a  new  Constitution,  but  it 
was  repelled  by  a  vote  of  74  to  41. 

Judge  Duncan  proceeds  to  say  :  —  "  No  society  can 
tolerate  a  wilful  and  despiteful  attempt  to  subvert  its 
religion  no  more  than  it  would  to  break  down  its 
laws  —  a  general,  malicious  and  deliberate  attempt  to 
overthrow  Christianity — general  Christianity.  This 
is  the  line  of  indication,  where  crime  commences,  and 
the  offence  becomes  the  subject  of  penal  visitation. 
These  offences  may  be  classed  under  the  following 
heads:  —  1;  Denying  the  being  and  providence  of 
God.  2.  Contumelious  reproaches  of  Jesus  Christ ; 
profane  and  malevolent  scoffing  at  the  Scriptures,  or 
exposing  any  part  of  them  to  ridicule.  3.  Certain 
immoralities,  tending  to  subvert  all  religion  and  mo- 
rality, which  are  the  foundation  of  all  governments. 

*  For  this  opinion  of  Chief  Justice  Kent,  see  infra. 


58  THE    POSITION"    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

Without  these  restramts,  no  free  government  could 
long  exist." 

"  It  is  impossible  to  administer  the  laws  ■without 
taking  the  religion  which  the  defendant  in  error  has 
scoffed  at;  that  Scripture  which  he  has  reviled,  as 
their  basis.  To  lay  this  aside  is,  at  least,  to  weaken 
the  confidence  in  human  veracity,  so  essential  to  the 
purposes  of  society,  and  without  which  no  question 
of  property  could  be  decided,  and  no  criminal  brought 
to  justice.  An  oath  in  the  common  form,  on  a  dis- 
credited book,  would  be  a  most  idle  ceremon}^" 

"  No  preference  is  given,  by  law,  to  any  particular 
religious  persuasion.  Protection  is  given  to  all  by 
our  laws.  It  is  only  the  malicious  reviler  of  Chris- 
tianity who  is  punished.  By  general  Christianity  is 
not  intended  the  doctrine  of  worship  of  any  particular 
sect." 

"  While  our  own  free  Constitution  secures  liberty 
of  conscience  and  freedom  of  religious  worship  to  all, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  maintain  that  any  man  should 
have  the  right,  publicly,  to  vilify  the  religion  of  his 
neighbors  and  of  the  country.  These  two  privileges 
are  directly  opposed.  It  is  open,  public  vilification 
of  the  religion  of  the  country  that  is  punished,  not 
to  force  conscience  by  punishment,  but  to  preserve 
the  peace  of  the  country  by  an  outward  respect  to 
the  religion  of  the  country." 

"  This  is  the  Christianity,  which  is  the  law  of  our 
land,  and  I  do  not  think  it  will  be  an  invasion  of  any 
man's  right  of  private  judgment,  or  of  the  most  ex- 
tended privileges  of  propagating  his  sentiments  with 
regard  to  reli2;ion  in  the  manner  he  thinks  most  con- 
elusive.     If  from  a  regard  to  decency  and  the  good 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  59 

order  of  society,  j)rofane  swearing,  breach  of  the 
Sabbath,  and  blasphemy,  are  punishable  by  civil 
magistrates,  these  are  not  punished  as  sins  or  offences 
against  God,  but  as  crimes  injurious  to  and  having  a 
malignant  influence  on  society ;  for  it  is  certain,  that 
by  these  practices,  no  one  pretends  to  prove  any  sup- 
posed truths,  detect  any  supposed  error,  or  advance 
any  sentiment  whatever."  (Updegraff  ^'5.  The  Com- 
monwealth, 11  Sergeant  and  Rawles'  Reports,  pp. 
391-410.) 

This  point  was  commented  upon  freely  in  the  great 
case  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
arising  upon  Stephen  Girard's  Will.  {Vidal  et  al.  vs. 
The  City  of  Philadelphia.  2  Howard,  127.)  It  was 
admitted  by  Mr.  Binney,  against  whom  it  was  cited 
by  Mr.  Webster,  to  be  the  law,  in  these  words : 
"  Christianity  is  a  part  of  the  law  of  Pennsylvania,  it 
is  true  :  but  what  Christianity  and  to  what  intent  ? 
It  is  Christianity  without  particular  tenets ;  Chris- 
tianity with  liberty  of  conscience  to  all,  and  to  the 
intent  that  it  shall  not  be  vilified,  profaned  or  exposed 
to  ridicule.  It  is  Christianity  for  the  defence  and 
protection  of  those  who  believe,  not  for  the  persecution 
of  those  who  do  not.  This  is  the  utmost  reach  of  the 
Commonwealth  vs.  Updegraff,  11  Ser.  and  R.  400. 
(Argument  of  Defendant's  Counsel,  103.)' 

Mr.  Webster  in  connection  with  his  reference  to 
this  leading  case,  has  the  following  remarks.  Re- 
ferring to  certain  great  features  in  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  Pennsylvania,  he  says :  "  These  great 
jDrinciples  have  always  been  recognized ;  and  they  are 
no  more  part  and  parcel  of  the  public  law  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, than  is  the  Christian  religion.     We  have  in 


60  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

the  Charter  of  Pennsylvania,  as  prepared  by  its  great 
founder,  WilUam  Penn,  we  have  in  his  "  great  law," 
as  it  was  called,  that  the  preservation  of  Christianity 
is  one  of  .the  great  and  leading  ends  of  government. 
This  is  declared  in  the  Charter  of  the  State.  Then 
the  laws  of  Pennsylvania,  the  statutes  against  blas- 
phemy, the  violation  of  the  Lord's  day,  and  others  to 
the  same  effect,  proceed  on  this  great  broad  principle, 
that  the  preservation  of  Christianity  is  one  of  the 
main  ends  of  government.  This  is  the  general  public 
policy  of  Pennsylvania.  On  this  head  we  have  the 
case  of  the  Commonwealth  vs.  Updegraff,  in  which  a 
decision,  in  accordance  with  this  whole  doctrine,  was 
given  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania.  The 
solemn  opinion  pronounced  by  that  tribunal,  begins 
by  a  general  declaration,  that  Christianity  is  and 
always  has  been  part  of  the  common  law  of  Penn- 
sylvania." 

"  There  is  nothing  that  we  look  for  with  more  cer- 
tainty than  this  general  principle,  that  Christianity 
is  part  of  the  law  of  the  land.  This  was  the  case 
among  the  Puritans  of  New  England,  the  Episcopa- 
lians of  the  Southern  States,  the  Pennsylvania 
Quakers,  the  Baptists,  the  mass  of  the  followers  of 
Whitfield  and  Wesley  and  the  Presbyterians,  all 
brought  and  all  adopted  this  great  truth,  and  all  have 
sustained  it.  And  where  there  is  any  religious  senti- 
ment among  men  at  all,  this  sentiment  incorporates 
itself  with  the  law.     Ever?/  thing  declares  it. 

"  The  generations  that  are  gone  before  speak  to  it 
and  pronounce  it  from  the  tomb.  We  feel  it.  All, 
all  proclaim  that  Christianity,  general,  tolerant  Chris- 
tianity^, Christianity  independent  of  sects  and  parties, 


IN    THE     UNITED     STATES.  61 

that  Christianity  to  which  the  sword  and  fagot  are 
unknown,  general  tolerant  Christianity,  is  the  law  of 
the  land."     (Webster's  Works,  Vol.  VI.  pp.  175-176.) 

Justice  Story,  in  the  course  of  the  opinion  delivered 
on  behalf  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  this  case  upon 
Girard's  Will,  remarks :  "  It  is  also  said,  and  said 
truly,  that  the  Christian  religion  is  a  part  of  the 
common  law  of  Pennsylvania ;  but  this  proposition  is 
to  be  received  with  its  appropriate  qualifications  and 
in  connection  with  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution 
of  that  State." 

"  So  that  we  are  compelled  to  admit,  that  although 
Christianity  be  a  part  of  the  common  law  of  the 
State,  yet  it  is  so  in  this  qualified  sense,  that  its 
divine  origin  and  truth  are  admitted,  and  therefore  it 
is  not  to  be  maliciously  and  openly  reviled  and  blas- 
phemed against,  to  the  annoyance  of  believers  or  the 
injury  of  the  public.  Such  was  the  doctrine  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  Commonwealth 
vs.  Updegraff."     (2  Howard,  127.) 

A  man  was  indicted  in  Washington  County,  New 
York,  in  1810,  for  blasphemy  against  the  name  of 
Christ.  The  ofience  was  charged  as  against  the 
common  law,  which  is  derived  from  England.  The 
prisoner  was  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  pay  a 
fine  of  five  hundred  dollars  and  to  be  imprisoned  for 
three  months.  The  case  was  removed  to  the  Supreme 
Court,  the  opinion  of  which  was  delivered  by  Chief 
Justice  Kent,  among  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first 
jurist,  which  this  country  has  produced.  Judge  Kent, 
after  having  noticed  that  the  jury  had  decided  the 
evil  intent  with  which  the  w^ords  were  spoken,  pro- 
ceeds to  state  the  law  on  this  subject  in  England,  and 


62  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

quotes  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  as  saying  in  one 
case,  ^'  that  Christianity  was  parcel  of  the  law,  and  to 
cast  contumelious  reproaches  upon  it  tended  to 
weaken  the  foundation  of  moral  obligation  and  the 
efficacy  of  oaths."  And  in  another  case,  as  saying, 
"  they  would  not  suffer  it  to  be  debated  whether  de- 
faming Christianity  in  general  was  not  an  offence  at 
common  law,  for  whatever  strikes  at  the  root  of 
Christianity,  tends  manifestly  to  the  dissolution  of 
civil  government.  But  the  Court  were  careful  to  say, 
they  did  not  include  disputes  among  learned  men 
upon  particular  controverted  points." 

"  Such  offences  have  always  been  considered  inde- 
pendent of  any  religious  establishment  or  the  rights 
of  the  Church.  They  are  treated  as  affecting  the  es- 
sential interests  of  civil  society." 

Chief  Justice  Kent  then  proceeds  to  remark : — 
"  And  why  should  not  the  language  contained  in  this 
indictment  be  still  an  offence  with  us?  There  is 
nothing  in  our  manners  or  institutions  which  has  pre- 
vented the  application  or  the  necessity  of  this  part 
of  the  common  law.  We  stand  equally  in  need  now, 
as  formerly,  of  all  that  moral  discipline  and  those 
principles  of  virtue  which  help  to  bind  society 
together.  The  people  of  this  State,  in  common  with 
the  people  of  this  country,  profess  the  general  doctrines 
of  Christianity  as  the  rule  of  their  faith  and  practice, 
and  to  scandalize  the  Author  of  these  doctrines,  is  not 
only  in  a  religious  point  of  view,  extremely  impious, 
but  even  in  respect  to  the  obligations  due  to  society, 
is  a  gross  violation  of  decency  and  good  order. 
Nothing  could  be  more  offensive  to  the  virtuous  part 
of  the  community,  or  more  injurious  to  the  tender 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  63 

morals  of  the  young,  than  to  declare  such  profanity 
lawful.  It  would  go  to  confound  all  distinction  be- 
tween things  sacred  and  profane." 

"  No  government  among  any  of  the  polished  nations 
of  antiquity,  and  none  of  the  institutions  of  modern 
Europe  (a  single  monitory  case  excepted),  ever 
hazarded  such  a  bold  experiment  upon  the  solidity 
of  public  morals,  as  to  permit  with  impunity  and 
under  the  sanction  of  their  tribunals,  the  general 
religion  of  the  community  to  be  openly  insulted  and 
defamed.  The  very  idea  of  jurisprudence  with  the 
ancient  law-givers  and  philosophers,  embraced  the 
religion  of  the  country.  Jurisprudentia  est  divinarum 
atqiiG  Jiumanarum  7'eru7n  notitia.  (Dig.  b.  1.  10.  2. 
Cic.  de  legibus.  b.  2.  ijclsswi.)" 

"The  free,  equal  and  undisturbed  enjoyment  of 
religious  opinion,  w^hatever  it  may  be,  and  free  and 
decent  discussions  on  any  religious  subject,  is  granted 
and  secured ;  but  to  revile,  with  malicious  and  blas- 
phemous contempt,  the  religion  professed  by  almost 
the  whole  community,  is  an  abuse  of  that  right.  Nor 
are  we  bound  by  any  expressions  in  the  Constitution, 
as  some  have  strangely  supposed,  either  not  to  punish 
at  all,  or  to  punish  indiscriminately,  the  like  attacks 
upon  the  religion  of  Mahomet  or  of  the  Grande  Lama; 
and  for  this  plain  reason,  that  we  are  a  Christian 
people,  and  the  morality  of  the  country  is  drawn  from 
Christianity,  and  not  from  the  doctrines  or  worship 
of  those  impostors." 

"  Though  the  Constitution  has  discarded  religious 
establishments,  it  does  not  forbid  judicial  cognizance 
of  those  offences  against  religion  and  morality  which 
have  no  reference  to  any  such  establishment,  or  to 


64  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

any  particular  form  of  government,  but  are  punish- 
able because  they  strike  at  the  root  of  moral  obliga- 
tions, and  weaken  the  security  of  the  social  ties. 
The  object  of  the  thirty-eighth  article  of  the  Consti- 
tution was  to  '  guard  against  spiritual  oppression  and 
intolerance/  by  declaring  that  ^  the  free  exercise  and 
enjoyment  of  religious  profession  and  worship,  with- 
out discrimination  or  preference,  should  forever  there- 
after be  allow^ed  within  this  State  to  all  mankind.' 
This  declaration  (noble  and  magnanimous  as  it  is 
when  fully  understood)  never  meant  to  withdraw 
religion  in  general,  and  with  it  the  best  sanctions  of 
moral  and  social  obligation,  from  all  consideration  and 
notice  of  the  law.  It  will  be  fully  satisfied  by  a  free 
and  universal  toleration,  without  any  of  the  tests, 
disabilities,  or  discriminations,  incident  to  a  religious 
establishment.  To  construe  it  as  breaking  down  the 
common  law  barrier  against  licentious,  wanton,  and 
impious  attacks  upon  Christianity  itself,  would  be  an 
enormous  perversion  of  its  meaning." 

"  The  Legislative  exposition  of  the  Constitution  is 
conformable  to  this  view  of  it.  Christianity  in  its 
enlarged  sense,  as  a  religion  revealed  and  taught  in 
the  Bible,  is  not  unknown  to  our  law.  The  statute 
for  preventing  immorality  consecrates  the  first  day  of 
the  week  as  holy  time,  and  considers  the  violation  of 
it  immoral.  This  was  only  the  continuation,  in  sub- 
stance, of  a  law  of  the  Colony,  which  declared  that 
the  profanation  of  the  Lord's  Day  was  '  the  great 
scandal  of  the  Christian  faith,'  The  act  concerning 
oaths  recognizes  the  common  law  mode  of  adminis- 
tering an  oath,  '  by  laying  the  hand  on  and  kissing 
the  Gospels.'     Surely,  then,  we  are  bound  to  conclude 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  65 

that  wicked  and  malicious  words,  writings,  and 
actions,  which  go  to  vilify  those  Gospels,  continue,  as 
at  common  law,  to  be  an  offence  against  the  public 
peace  and  safety.  They  are  inconsistent  with  the 
reverence  due  to  the  administration  of  an  oath ;  and, 
among  their  other  evil  consequences,  they  tend  to 
lessen,  in  the  public  mind,  its  religious  sanction."  "=' 
(The  People  vs.  Ruggles,  8  Johnson's  Reports,  290.) 

A  tradesman  was  prosecuted  in  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  for  selling  goods  on  the  Lord's  day.  In 
deciding  against  him.  Judge  O'Neal  held  the  following 
language :  — 

"  Crimes  are  classed  into  mala  in  se  and  mala  pro- 
Jiibita.  What  gives  them  that  character  ?  We  cannot 
answer  as  the  Israelites  would  do,  by  pointing  to 
Mount  Sinai,  and  say  the  Lord  God  commanded  us, 
saying,  '  Thou  shalt  not  kill,'  '  thou  shalt  not  steal.' 
The  authority  of  these  precepts  comes  to  us  through 
Christianity.  .  .  .  And  hence  the  law  delivered  at 
Mount  Sinai  may  be,  by  us,  appealed  to  as  pointing 
out  that  which  is  '  evil  in  itself.' 

"  Again,  our  law  declares  all  contracts  contra  honos 
mores  as  illegal  and  void.  What  constitutes  the 
standard  of  good  morals?  Is  it  not  Christianity? 
There  certainly  is  none  other.  Say  that  cannot  be 
appealed  to,  and  I  do  not  know  what  would  be  good 
morals.  The  day  of  moral  virtue  in  which  we  live 
would,  in  an  instant,  if  that  standard  were  abolished, 
lapse  into  the  dark  and  murky  night  of  Pagan  immo- 
rality.   In  this  State,  the  marriage  tie  is  indissoluble. 

*  An  attempt  was  made,  in  the  Convention  of  1822,  to  overrule 
the  law  in  this  case,  but  it  failed  by  a  vote  of  74  to  41. 
5 


66  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

Whence  do  we  take  that  maxim?  It  is  from  the 
teaching  of  the  New  Testament  alone. 

"In  the  courts  over  which  we  preside,  we  daily 
acknowledge  Christianity  as  the  most  solemn  part  of 
our  administration.  A  Christian  witness,  having  no 
religious  scruples  against  placing  his  hand  upon  the 
book,  is  sworn  upon  the  Holy  Evangelists,  the  books 
of  the  New  Testament,  which  testify  of  our  Saviour's 
birth,  life,  death,  and  resurrection.  This  is  so  common 
a  matter,  that  it  is  little  thought  of  as  affording  any 
evidence  of  the  part  which  Christianity  has  in  the 
common  law. 

"  All  blasphemous  publications,  carrying  upon  their 
face  that  irreverent  rejection  of  God  and  His  holy 
religion,  which  makes  them  dangerous  to  the  commu- 
nity, have  always  been  held  to  be  indictable  and 
punishable  at  common  law.  Here  they  would  also  be 
plain  acts  of  licentiousness,  having  no  warrant  of  pro- 
tection whatever  in  our  Constitution.  This,  however, 
never  could  extend  to  free  and  manly  discussion  on 
those  holy  subjects.  For  I  agree  with  Mr.  Jefferson 
(Notes  on  Virginia,  p.  235)  :  — '  Our  rulers  can  have 
authority  over  such  natural  rights  only  as  we  have  sub- 
mitted to  them.  The  rights  of  conscience  we  never 
submitted,  we  never  could  submit.  We  are  answer- 
able for  them  to  our  God ! '  But  I  should  hesitate 
long  in  pushing  the  argument  as  far  as  he  does,  by 
saying  that,  in  its  exercise,  '  It  does  me  no  injury  for 
my  neighbor  to  say  there  are  twenty  Gods,  or  no 
God.'  While  the  argument  rests  only  in  words,  it 
would  be  so  evanescent  that  it  might  be  no  injury. 
But  when  it  comes  to  be  put  in  print,  to  be  read  like 
Paine's  Age  of  Reason,  by  the  young  and  unwary, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  67 

where  is  the  parent  who  would  say,  ^  It  does  me  no 
mjury'  I  agree  fully  to  what  is  said  by  Judge  Dun- 
can, in  the  Commonwealth  vs.  Updegraff  (11  Ser.  & 
R.  394),  ^Christianity — general  Christianity,  is,  and 
always  has  been,  part  of  the  common  law ;  not  Chris- 
tianity founded  on  any  particular  religious  tenets ; 
not  Christianity  Avith  an  established  church,  and 
tithes,  and  spiritual  courts;  but  Christianity  with 
liberty  of  conscience  to  all  men.' 

"  What  I  have  said  was  not  necessary  for  the  de- 
cision of  this  case.  It  has  only  been  said  to  prevent 
silence  from  being  interpreted  into  a  want  of  confi- 
dence in  the  proposition,  that  Christianity  may  be 
justly  appealed  to  as  a  part  of  the  common  law." 
(From  the  Appendix  to  Matthews  on  the  Bible  and 
Civil  Government,  p.  248.) 


SECTION"  VIII. 

The  social  bearings  of  Christianity  and  the  civil  duties  incumbent  on 

Christians. 

It  is  apparent,  then,  from  our  statutory  and  our 
common  law,  from  our  constitutions  and  our  social 
institutions,  that  Christianity  is  legally  recognized  as 
the  popular  religion  of  this  country.  It  is  the  very 
atmosphere  in  which  our  institutions  exist ;  it  is  the 
cement  by  which  they  are  bound  together ;  it  is  the 
sanction  of  our  penal  laws ;  it  is,  in  most  cases,  the 
security  to  which  appeal  is  made  by  oath  for  official 
faithfulness ;  it  is  the  guardian  of  judicial  evidence ;  it  is 


68  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

the  basis  of  our  morality,  and  the  mould  in  which  our 
civilization  has  been  cast.  The  refuge  we  offer  to 
men  of  all  the  world  from  intolerance,  oppression  and 
persecution,  for  opinion's  sake,  is  offered  under  the 
influences  of  Christianity  and  according  to  its  princi- 
ples. We  do  not  strike  the  Christian  flag  when  we 
thus  open  wide  our  doors  to  the  world,  announcing 
that  here  is  liberty  of  worship  for  all  —  Christian 
toleration  for  all :  we  rather  invite  men  to  come  be- 
neath its  folds  and  under  its  protection.  We  spread 
over  all  that  Christian  vesture  which  is  without  seam 
or  line  of  division,  the  broad  mantle  of  Christian 
charity.  We  ask  only  obedience  to  such  laws  as  are 
necessary  to  the  preservation  of  such  institutions  — 
institutions  which  can  only  subsist  and  thrive  under 
the  Christian  flag  and  on  the  broad  ground  of  Chris- 
tian charity. 

Christianity  asks  no  aid,  and  will  receive  none, 
from  the  State,  to  enforce  its  precepts  or  its  worship. 
Its  only  power  is  moral,  not  physical.  It  seeks  to 
govern  men  by  the  intrinsic  excellence  of  its  precepts, 
and  by  presenting  to  them  the  moral  and  religious 
claims  of  the  Creator  upon  all  His  creatures.  It 
seeks  the  extension  of  Christian  civilization  and  the 
amelioration  of  human  condition,  the  amendment 
of  legislation  and  the  wholesome  reform  of  our  social 
institutions,  for  the  good  of  men  as  well  as  for  the 
glory  of  God ;  but  it  expects  to  accomplish  this  good 
only  by  its  moral  and  enlightening  influence  upon 
the  minds  and  consciences  of  Christian  men  and  those 
who  lend  themselves  to  Christian  influences. 

Christianity  enjoys  advantages  here  never  before 
accorded  to  it  by  accident  or  by  power.     It  wields  no 


IN    THE     UNITED     STATES.  69 

temporal  power  to  make  it  feared ;  it  wants  no  aid 
but  that  from  its  own  friends.  It  enjoys  for  its 
generous  toleration  the  heartfelt  respect  of  all  the 
intelligent  and  ardent  friends  of  humanity.  It  only 
needs  that  the  faults  of  its  friends  should  be  separated 
from  the  purity  of  its  requirements ;  or  that  its  friends 
should  illustrate  the  purity  of  its  doctrines  by  the 
purity  of  their  lives,  to  give  it  a  higher  moral  power 
and  greater  influence  for  good  than  in  any  position  it 
has  heretofore  occupied. 

The  Christians  of  the  United  States  have  received 
from  their  Fathers  the  most  important  trust  ever 
committed  to  men.  The  political  institutions  of  this 
country,  springing  from  Christian  liberality,  Christian 
civilization  and  intelligence,  designed  solely  to  promote 
human  well-being,  are  placed  in  their  hands  as  im- 
plements to  be  employed  for  human  welfare.  They 
contain  powers  safe  only  in  the  hands  of  those  who 
are  under  Christian  influences  —  powers  fraught  in 
their  proper  or  improper  exercise,  with  more  of  good 
or  evil  for  the  human  family,  than  were  ever  before 
entrusted  to  Christian  hands.  The  Evangelical 
Christians  of  the  United  States  can  sway  this  power 
at  their  pleasure,  for  they  have  heretofore  been  and 
still  are,  largely  in  the  majority.  There  has  undoubt- 
edly been  undue  delicacy  and  forbearance  shown  in 
the  exercise  of  this  power.  Such  has  been  this  for- 
bearance, indeed,  that  the  question  now  is  rather  of 
the  neglect  than  of  the  abuse  of  power. 

The  principles  of  toleration  and  freedom  of  worship 
arc  so  thoroughly  interwoven  into  our  State  Constitu- 
tions, that  Christian  citizens  who  are  the  devoted 
friends  of  religious  liberty,  could  not,  without  doing 


70  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

violence  to  their  own  feelings,  infringe  them ;  but  a 
wide  field  for  Christian  enterprise  and  human  advan- 
tage invited  strongly  their  attention  and  their  labors, 
without  risk  of  transcending  the  limits  of  toleration 
or  violating  the  rights  of  conscience. 

Christianity  is  no  mere  negation  in  this  country ; 
it  commands,  or  should  command,  the  moral  and  po- 
litical power  of  the  Christians  who  dwell  in  it,  exer- 
cised in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  our  institutions 
and  with  a  view  to  the  highest  interests  of  men,  tem- 
poral and  eternal.  The  projDer  exercise  of  these 
functions  of  Christian  freemen  involves  a  wide  scope 
of  political  and  social  knowledge.  Have  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  United  States  studied  and  comprehended 
as  they  ought,  their  position  :  and  the  problems  which 
duty  and  opportunity  have  placed  before  them  in 
that  position  ? 

The  object  to  be  accomplished  by  them  was 
not  the  conversion  of  our  tolerant  into  intolerant 
institutions ;  not  to  use  their  power  to  enforce  Chris- 
tian tenets ;  but  to  carry  out,  in  a  charitable  spirit, 
that  amelioration  of  the  human  condition  which 
Christianity  contemplates.  Since  the  advent  of  our 
Saviour  there  has  never  been,  on  a  national  scale,  so 
beautiful  an  exemplification  of  one  of  His  two  great 
fundamental  precepts  as  that  which  is  exhibited  in 
the  toleration  of  our  Revolutionary  Fathers,  and  in 
their  offering  to  the  poor  outcasts  of  every  clime  a 
home  so  inviting,  and  institutions  so  liberal,  as  those 
of  the  United  States.  In  fulfilling  this  duty,  they 
but  performed  what  Christianity  made  incumbent; 
they  were  the  first  body  of  Christian  men  to  whom 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  71 

such  an  opportunity  had  been  offered.  They  felt  the 
obligation,  and  met  it. 

Can  this  be  said  of  those  Christian  citizens  to 
whom,  in  continuance,  these  important  trusts  were 
committed  ?  What  is  the  evidence  that  the  Christian 
citizens  of  the  United  States  have,  since  the  era  of 
our  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  realized  their  respon- 
sibilities? Have  they  reflected  that  this  national 
Constitution,  and  these  constitutions  of  the  States,  are 
sacred  trusts,  for  the  due  execution  of  which  those 
who  have  the  power  and  the  intelligence  to  administer 
them  aright  are  answerable  ?  That  they  are  talents 
committed  to  the  servants  of  a  Master  who  will 
require  an  account  ?  "  The  powers  that  be  are 
ordained  of  God,"  and  obedience  to  such  is  the  rule 
of  the  Gospel :  in  this  country  the  responsibility  of 
governing  is  added  to  that  of  obedience.  It  is  a  duty 
here  to  look  to  the  powers  which  are  to  be  executed, 
as  well  as  to  the  powers  who  are  to  execute.  The 
American  Christian  is  entrusted  with  powers  never 
before  enjoyed  by  Christian  citizens ;  —  the  power  of 
naming  those  who  are  to  be  the  "  ordained  of  God." 
It  has  been  the  duty  of  Christians  in  times  past,  and 
is  now  in  other  countries,  to  suffer  and  obey;  here  it 
is  our  duty  to  designate  those  we  are  bound  to  obey. 
Obedience  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  within  right  limits, 
is  a  Christian  duty;  but  here  Christians  have  the 
power  of  framing  the  laws  to  which  they  owe 
obedience. 

It  would  be  a  mortifying  task  to  inquire  in  what 
manner  the  Christians  of  the  United  States  have  ful- 
filled the  unusual  responsibilities  thus  placed  upon 
them.     The  trust  reposed  in  the  people  by  the  provi- 


72  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

dence  of  God,  was  to  administer  the  powers  conferred 
by  the  Constitutions,  State  and  National ;  the  objects 
of  the  trust,  and  its  hmits,  are  indicated  in  these 
Constitutions ;  the  majority  of  the  trustees  are  Chris- 
tians, or  men  professing  to  be  swayed  by  Christian 
motives  or  preferences ;  —  how  have  they  discharged 
the  duties  of  this  trust  ?  Taking  into  view  the  mil- 
hons  who  inhabit  this  country,  and  their  rapid  in- 
crease; the  multitudes  who  are  hastening  yearly  to 
our  shores ;  the  power  for  good  or  evil  of  our  institu- 
tions ;  the  mighty  influence  of  our  example  upon  the 
rest  of  the  world,  it  can  hardly  be  conceived  what 
higher  duty  any  human  being  could  have,  excepting, 
only,  the  securing  of  his  own  salvation,  than  that 
which  devolved,  and  still  devolves  upon  Christians 
here  to  make  American  institutions  as  available  as 
possible  for  human  advantage.  We  do  not  allege  that 
this  duty  has  been  wholly  neglected ;  but  how  does 
the  performance  compare  with  the  breadth  of  the 
obligation  and  with  the  facility  of  action  ?  Christians 
here  are  sufficient  in  number  to  sway  the  whole  policy 
of  the  country ;  but  where  do  we  mark  their  influence 
or  their  acts  in  the  policj^  of  the  country  ?  Have  we 
not,  alas !  either  to  admit  that  Christians  have  failed 
to  make  their  influence  and  their  principles  properly 
operative,  or  to  confess  that  their  influence  and  their 
principles  are  not  Christian  ? 

If  we  look  into  the  party  movements  of  the  day, 
we  encounter  a  scene  of  matchless  wrangling,  con- 
tention, and  low  intrigue,  the  object  of  which  is, 
mainly,  to  get  possession  of  the  offices  of  the  country 
and  the  salaries.  There  is  scarcely  an  imaginable 
meanness  to  which  party  men  do  not  descend — we 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  73 

may  as  well  say  there  is  scarcely  a  degree  of  moral 
degradation  to  which  they  do  not  descend — in  pursuit 
of  office.  The  manly  independence  which  teaches 
men  to  seek  a  livelihood  in  some  honest  calling,  is 
undermined,  and  large  numbers  of  our  people  are 
trained  to  act  as  if  no  mode  of  living  were  so  desirable 
as  to  be  a  feeder  at  the  public  crib,  and  nothing  more 
praiseworthy  than  to  be  a  constant  beggar  at  the  door 
of  public  patronage.  The  sentence  which  binds  all 
men  "  to  eat  their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  their  brows  " 
is  commuted,  for  them,  into  eating  their  bread  by  the 
sale  of  their  honor,  their  hpnesty,  or  their  indepen- 
dence. They  abandon  every  thing  honest  in  life  to 
pursue  every  thing  that  is  loathsome  in  party.  How 
far  Christian  hands  are  soiled  in  such  pursuits,  let 
every  one  answer  for  himself.  But  it  may  be  aptly 
inquired,  could  the  machinery  of  party  have  fallen 
into  such  a  shape,  and  could  political  degradation 
have  descended  so  low,  had  the  vigilance  of  the  Chris- 
tian citizens  been  in  any  degree  proportioned  to  the 
interests  involved  ? 

If  we  look  to  the  public  elections  of  the  country, 
shall  we  find  in  them,  and  in  the  events  and  processes 
connected  with  them,  any  marks  of  Christian  influence 
or  intervention  ?  Our  elections  are,  in  too  many 
instances,  but  the  concentrated  dregs  of  partizan 
intrigue  and  beggarly  office-seeking.  We  know  no- 
thing more  shameful,  nothing  more  dangerous  to  our 
institutions,  than  the  culpable  neglect  of  duty  on  the 
part  of  good  men,  and  the  unrestrained  sway  of  bad 
men,  in  the  matter  of  our  public  elections.  If 
Christian  men  have  any  share  in  this  prostitution  of 
public  interests   and  private  honesty,  our  elections 


74  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

reflect  digrace  not  only  upon  the  country,  but  upon 
Christianity. 

Do  we  find  any  consolatory  evidence  of  Christian 
influences  in  our  Legislatures,  State  or  National? 
Alas  !  they  have  become  a  bye-word  of  venality.  We 
are  far  from  saying  there  are  no  good  men  in  these 
bodies ;  we  do  not  even  say  that  bad  men  could  be  kept 
out  of  them;  but  we  do  say  that  there  are  honest 
men  enough — Christian  men  enough — to  send  a  large 
majority  of  good,  firm,  and  intelligent  men  into  every 
Legislative  Assembly  in  the  nation ;  such  men  as 
would  effectually  resist  the  power  of  corruption,  and 
consult  only  the  highest  interests  of  their  constituents. 
That  such  men  are  not  sent  is  fairly  imputable  to 
those  who  know  it  to  be  their  duty,  and  having  the 
power,  yet  wholly  fail  to  fulfil  their  obligations. 

If  the  legislation  of  this  country  in  its  two  great 
aspects.  State  and  National,  be  carefully  regarded,  it 
is  chiefly  difficult  to  say  which  is  the  most  culpable, 
the  defects  of  omission  or  those  of  commission.  The 
guilt  of  omission  appears  to  us  far  the  greatest.  Let 
us  suppose  that  for  the  period  of  three  score  years  and 
ten  of  our  national  existence,  our  Congress  had  been 
composed  of  such  men  as  the  people  could  have 
elected,  what  would  have  been  the  position  of  the 
country  compared  with  what  it  is  now,  great  and 
prosperous  as  is  our  actual  position?  So  with  the 
Legislatures  of  our  original  thirteen  States  and  the 
eighteen  which  have  been  added.  There  has  been, 
and  is  now,  an  attainable  superiority  to  our  past  and 
present  circumstances,  which  it  is  impossible  to  define, 
but  which  is  appreciated  by  every  honest  and  re- 
flecting mind  in  the  country.     What  has  not  been 


IN    THE     UNITED     STATES.  75 

done  for  the  population  of  this  vast  country,  which 
might  have  been  done,  to  promote  the  moral  and 
material  interests  of  the  people,  lies  at  the  door  of  the 
Christians  of  this  country,  for  they  have  most  palpably 
neglected  the  political  duties  committed  to  them. 
The  responsibility  which  rests  upon  a  multitude,  is, 
we  know,  seldom  realized  in  its  full  force;  but  we 
fear  the  retribution  which  awaits  the  guilty,  will  be 
in  some  way  individually  realized,  however  large  the 
multitude. 

It  is  not  safe  then  for  Christians  to  infer,  that 
Christianity  and  Politics  have  no  mutual  relations. 
Ours  are  Christian  political  institutions ;  they  are  not 
merely  intended  as  convenient  safe-guards,  under 
which  Christians  may  dwell  in  peace  and  quietness ; 
they  are  not  designed  merely  for  the  negative  object 
of  administering  justice  and  protecting  person  and 
property :  They  are  powers  designed  to  be  exercised 
for  human  advantage ;  they  are  facilities  for  com- 
plying with  the  great  command,  to  love  our  neighbors 
as  ourselves.  We  repeat  it,  they  are  talents  com- 
mitted to  the  hands  of  American  Christians,  the  value 
and  moment  of  which  they  have  very  imperfectly 
realized.  * 

*  "  Whence,  save  from  the  American  Church,  can  go  forth  the 
light  of  a  redeeming  gospel  to  the  dark  places  of  the  earth  ?  If 
there  be  any  philosophic  reading  of  an  historic  Providence,  then  from 
God's  jicist  and  present  dealings  with  us  as  a  i^ccidiar  'people,  and 
from  the  evident  signs  of  the  times,  as  displaying  the  powerlessness 
of  all  other  nations  for  evangelizing  a  world ;  from  these,  I  say,  is 
the  truth  as  apparent  as  an  oracle  of  Revelation,  that  unto  us,  as 
stewards  of  the  grace  of  God,  is  awarded  the  magnificent  service  of 
sending  forth  a  full  and  free  gospel  over  all  the  benighted  continents 
of  our  globe — that  from  our  beloved  land,  glorious  in  its  scenery,  and 


76  THE    POSITION"    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

That  this  responsibility  is  not  realized  by  American 
Christians,  is  a  fact  they  will  not  deny.  The  chief 
reason  for  this  is  not  frequently  assigned,  but  it  should 
be  not  the  less  frequently  sought ;  it  is,  perhaps, 
much  more  frequently  felt  than  acknowledged. 

its  broad  boundaries,  and  its  new  growth  of  civilization,  and  its 
loftier  type  of  civil  and  religious  manhood,  the  Angel  that  hath  the 
everlasting  gospel  to  preach,  is  already  pluming  the  wing  for  flight 
over  the  nations;  and  that  the  hopes  of  the  race,  therefore,  are  not 
merely  for  Time,  but  for  Eterniti/  !  " 

"  For  we  most  frankly  admit,  that  a  religion  that  remains  shut 
away  from  the  common  business  of  life,  into  the  pure  regions  of 
spiritualism,  as  a  thing  of  ecstacies,  and  sentiment,  and  psalm- 
singing:  appearing  statedly  on  Sabbath  days,  and  in  sanctuaries,  and 
seen  no  more  abroad  during  the  six  days  of  the  secular  and  the 
social  —  We  confess,  I  say,  that  such  a  religion,  be  it  Christian  or 
Pagan,  is  altogether  out  of  place,  and  imbecile  amid  the  restless  and 
earnest  tides  of  an  age  and  a  life  like  our  own." 

"  But  then  quite  as  confident  I  am,  that  if  Christianity  have  not 
Mtherto  acquitted  herself  to  the  full  of  all  her  secular  and  social 
duties ;  the  secret  lies  not  in  her  inadequacy  to  the  work ;  but  in 
the  smallness  of  the  sphere  which  Christians  themselves  have  assigned 
her,  and  the  class  and  kind  of  labor  they  have  committed  to  her 
hands.  Sure  I  am,  at  least,  that  as  an  intellectual  and  moral  system, 
Christianity  was  designed  for  all  nations  and  generations ;  and  is 
divinely  adapted  to  the  exigencies  of  all  nations  and  generations." 

"Embodying,  as  Christianity  does  within  itself,  the  mightiest  and 
most  practical  moral  influences  to  be  found  in  God's  universe ;  and 
revealed  as  the  master  contrivance  of  Infinite  Wisdom,  to  restore 
man  from  his  ruins,  and  bring  back  a  wandering  world  to  the 
light  and  the  liberty  of  God's  own  children;  it  has  only  to  be 
inaugurated  in  its  place  of  rightful  authority  —  only  to  be  brought 
forth  from  the  cloisters  of  contemplation,  and  the  chairs  of  academic 
speculation  —  only  to  take  hold  in  its  strength,  on  the  great  practical 
questions  of  the  race  and  the  age,  —  and  the  scoffing  world  will  ac- 
knowledge as  they  see,  that  an  influence  so  long  despised  as  a  thing 
only  busy  with  creeds,  and  ceremonies,  and  sacraments,  can  yet  work 
gloriously  and  with  a  strong  arm,  as   man's  practical  benefactor  — 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  77 

SECTIOISr  IX. 

Denominational  Differences. 

That  there  should  be  diiFerences  of  opinion  in 
regard  to  many  rehgious  tenets,  we  regard  as  inevi- 
table, where  the  mind  is  free  to  draw  its  own  conclu- 
sions ;  and  it  is  of  the  very  essence  of  true  Christianity 
that  the  mind  should  be  thus  free,  that  it  may  of  its 
own  motion,  so  far  as  human  influences  are  concerned, 
and  of  its  own  comprehension,  adopt  the  tenets  which 
make  up  the  sum  of  its  religious  belief.  There  is  no 
excuse  for  men  who  profess  to  be  followers  of  Christ, 
if,  because  they  differ  in  some  points  of  their  religious 
belief,  they  should  refuse  to  co-operate  earnestly  and 
efficiently  together  for  the    accomplishment   of  any 

that  its  fostering  is  of  every  influence  which  makes  up  civilization  — 
that  its  calling  is  unto  the  patronage  of  the  arts,  and  sciences,  and 
literature,  and  commerce,  and  trade  —  that  its  place  is  as  truly  in  the 
cabinet  as  in  the  conventicle,  in  the  senate-chamber,  as  at  a  sacra- 
ment —  that  it  can  acquit  itself  vigorously  of  all  Social  and  Civil,  in 
a  word,  of  every  secular  duty;  and  is  gloriously  equal  to  all  the 
exigencies  of  the  times,  and  every  possible  emergency  of  the  day  and 
the  generation." 

"  And  we  say,  such  an  inauguration  to  a  high  sway  over  things 
merely  temporal,  Christianity  deserves  to-day,  at  the  hands  of  its 
disciples.  It  deserves  to  be  justified  openly  from  the  suspicions  of 
the  world,  that  it  is  after  all,  but  a  low,  and  paltry,  and  drivelling 
fanaticism.  It  deserves  to  be  brought  abroad  from  the  closet  and 
cloister,  to  enter  as  a  living  power  into  the  philosophy,  and  specula- 
tion, and  the  earnest  life,  and  all  the  high  enterprise  of  an  uprising 
Humanity."  —  Rev.  C.  Wadsivoi^h's  Sermon  on  Religion  and 
Politics,  pp.  21—26. 


78  THE   rosiTiON  of   Christianity 

good  result  with  which  their  rehgious  differences  have 
no  connection.  They  are  not  less  bound  to  notice  the 
points  in  which  they  agree  than  those  in  which  they 
differ.  The  good  they  can  accomplish  in  concert 
should  not  remain  unperformed  because  there  may  be 
differences  of  opinion  upon  matters  which  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  work  which  is  to  be  done. 
It  cannot  be  concealed  that  sectarianism  has  been 
the  main  barrier  which  has  kept  Christians  from 
uniting  their  efforts  for  the  common  good,  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  public  affairs.* 

*  We  cannot  deny  ourselves  or  our  readers,  the  pleasure  of  producing 
here  the  following  passages,  from  the  recent  address  of  Dr.  Duff, 
upon  the  occasion  of  his  public  reception  in  Concert  Hall,  Philadel- 
phia, February  21,  1854  :/— 

"  We  have  hitherto  been  accustomed,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, 
to  look  at  each  other's  differences,  rather  than  our  agreements  in  the 
faith.  It  is  in  the  very  nature  of  division  to  scatter  and  sever,  while 
it  is  in  the  very  nature  of  coincidence  to  bind  and  cement.  The 
former  sows  the  seeds  of  discord,  while  the  latter  is  the  source  of 
harmony.  Why,  then,  should  we  not  look  rather  at  the  points  about 
which  we  are  thoroughly  agreed,  and  which  are  the  great  fundamental 
doctrines  of  Christianity  —  those  grand  transcendent  verities  which 
constitute  the  foundation  of  all  felicity  on  earth,  and  the  earnest  of 
all  real  blessedness  in  heaven  !  And  why  should  we  not  rejoice  in 
the  privilege  of  casting  those  comparatively  minor  points  in  the  shade, 
in  order  that  we  may  enjoy  the  full  effulgence  and  beautitude  of  the 
latter  ? 

"Let  us  cherish  this  ^ unity  of  spirit'  more  and  more,  and  then 
we  shall  not  be  exhibited  to  the  world  as  Christians  throughout 
Christendom  have  been  in  times  past,  in  an  antagonism  and  turbulent 
collision,  like  the  discrepant  atoms  of  Miltonic  chaos ;  but  we  shall 
be  exhibited  as  bright  celestial  orbs,  revolving  in  a  grand  and  solemn 
procession  of  harmony  and  good-will,  round  the  grand  central  sun, 
even  Jesus  Christ,  the  King  of  glory,  and  the  King  of  saints. 
Doubtless,  in  the  minds  of  many,  minor  differences  will  arise,  for  all 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  79 

Sectarian  differences  have  nothing  in  common  with 
those  which  are  political,  and  the   men  who   differ 

are  not  capacitated  alike,  or  circumstanced  alike,  or  educated  alike ; 
and  wherever  there  is  freedom  of  thought  there  must  be  freedom  of 
speech ;  but  if  we  cherish  this  spirit  of  unity,  then  will  the  strong 
learn  to  deal  tenderly  with  the  infirmities  of  the  weak ;  and  then  will 
the  weak  be  no  longer  disposed  to  quarrel  with  the  (to  them)  unin- 
telligible speculations  or  positions  of  the  strong.  Let  us  cherish  this 
spirit  of  unity  and  brotherly  love,  and  then,  whatever  difi'erences 
may  arise,  we  shall  be  all  right  in  the  main.  From  the  very  finitude 
of  human  nature  there  will  be  partialities,  which  will  draw  us  nearer 
to  one  portion  of  the  truth  than  to  another;  and  from  the  very  in- 
firmity of  our  nature  we  are  often  led  to  dwell  too  exclusively  upon  one 
point,  until  it  grows  into  disproportionate  magnitude  before  our  eyes, 
and  we  forget  the  points  of  higher  importance  —  even  as  a  pin-head, 
when  brought  into  contact  with  the  pupil  of  the  eye,  by  gazing  at  it, 
it  will  render  invisible  the  most  beautiful  landscape,  or  eclipse  the 
very  sun  in  the  firmament  of  heaven. 

"  In  this  way  too,  we  shall  be  enabled  to  remove  a  foul  blot  on 
Christianity.  We  shall  dissipate  the  weakness  of  disunion,  and,  by 
gathering  our  scattered  forces,  we  shall  be  enabled  successfully  to 
carry  on  the  war  of  truth  against  error,  into  the  very  centre  of  the 
enemy's  dominions.  We  shall  be  able  to  wipe  away  the  bitter 
sarcasm  that  has  been  hurled  by  infidelity  against  the  religion  of 
Christ.  Even  while  we  all  profess  to  be  inhabiting  a  region  so  ra- 
diant with  light  and  so  exuberant  with  the  bounties  of  a  gracious 
God,  that  its  marvellous  history  stands  unparalleled  in  the  archives 
of  eternity,  we  all  show  our  unbounded  gratitude  to  the  Author  of 
such  ineSable  blessings,  by  cherishing  an  irreconcilable  hatred  to  one 
another;  while  all  are,  by  creation,  the  servants  of  one  sovereign 
Lord;  and  may,  by  adoption,  be  called  into  his  family  to  become 
princes  of  the  blood-royal  in  heaven.  In  order  to  this,  let  us  pray 
that  our  men  of  intellect  may  be  men  of  seraphic  fire  —  even  the  fire 
of  Divine  love,  which  alone  can  melt  and  fuse  all  into  oneness  of 
spirit;  let  us  pray  that  all  our  sinfulness,  all  partiality,  all  envy,  and 
all  sinister  motives,  may  be  forever  eradicated  from  amongst  us,  and 
that  nothing  may  be  allowed  to  interfere  with  the  realizing  of  so 
glorious  a  consummation,  short  of  the  dereliction  of  some  vital  prin- 
ciple, or  a  base  compromise  of  some  divine  prerogative." 


80  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

widely  upon  religious  questions  might  harmonize 
well  upon  the  public  interests  of  the  country.  It  is 
seen  every  day  that  men  of  all  denominations  mingle, 
without  difficulty,  in  public  aJBfairs.  What  we  urge 
as  the  omission  of  Christians,  is,  that  they  should  not, 
as  a  body,  have  studied  the  institutions  and  interests 
of  the  country,  from  the  point  of  view  which  Chris- 
tianity affords,  and  thus  prepared  themselves  to  carry 
the  benign  principles  of  their  religion,  so  far  as  they 
were  applicable,  into  public  affairs,  in  the  spirit  of 
that  Christian  toleration  which  reigns  throughout  our 
whole  political  system.  It  is  not  intended  that  Chris- 
tians should  unite  their  influence  or  intelligence  or 
their  power,  for  any  ecclesiastical  advantage,  or  for 
the  purpose  of  weakening  the  principle  of  toleration, 
but  solely  for  the  purpose  of  making  our  institutions 
as  efficient  as  possible  for  good  to  our  own  population 
and  to  all  men  within  the  reach  of  their  influence. 
It  is  not  desirable  that  Christians  should  unite  to 
exalt  the  power  of  the  church  or  churches,  or  any 
mere  religious  power,  but  to  do  that  good  to  men 
which  Christianity  dictates.  It  is,  that  Christians 
may  not  only  show  they  are  such,  by  doing  good  to 
their  fellow-men  as  they  have  individual  opportunity, 
but  that  they  may  vindicate  their  title  to  be  the 
friends  of  Christ,  by  uniting  to  promote  human 
welfare,  through  wise  legislation,  by  discreet  adminis- 
tration of  the  laws,  and  a  just  apportionment  of  na- 
tional benefits. 

Now,  if  never  before.  Christians  should  demonstrate, 
that  the  love  they  bear  their  fellow-men  is  as  ready 
to  act  for  their  advantage  through  the  medium  of 
national  powers  as  of  private  opportunities.     If  the 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  81 

Legislative,  Judicial  and  Executive  powers  vested  in 
the  public  officers  of  our  national  government  are  ca- 
pable of  being  so  directed  and  administered  as  to 
confer  extraordinary  benefits,  moral  and  material, 
upon  the  whole  people,  and  through  them  upon  others, 
it  would  be  difficult  to  conjecture  upon  what  grounds 
any  excuse  could  be  framed  for  those  who  have 
learned  the  bearing  in  these  respects  of  Christian 
obligations,  and  who  make  no  attempt  to  discharge 
them  where  the  results  would  be  so  important. 

It  is  an  undeniable  fact,  that  the  Christians  of  the 
United  States  expend  their  chief  efforts,  we  may  well 
say  nearly  their  whole  efforts,  for  the  welfare  of  men 
and  the  glory  of  their  Blaster,  in  the  direction  of  de- 
nominational advancement.  That  this  effort  has  not 
gone  unblessed,  that  it  has  borne  abundant  and  rich 
fruits,  we  are  happy  to  say.  But,  however  blest  these 
labors  in  their  several  narrow  channels,  they  not  only 
leave  a  wide  scope  of  humanity  uncared  for  and  not 
reached,  but  they  leave  undone  much  that  might  be 
achieved  by  a  union  of  Christians  for  great  objects  as 
to  which  they  do  not  differ.  These  sectarian  families 
may  and  should  take  care  of  themselves,  but  they 
should  not  forget  that  they  too  are  members  of  a 
community  larger  than  all  of  them  united.  As  de- 
nominations, we  cannot  enforce  our  special  tenets, 
our  political  institutions  being  constructed  upon  a 
more  liberal  principle ;  our  duty  as  Christians  is  not 
limited  by  our  power  as  denominations,  but  by  the 
nature  of  the  obligation  itself  and  those  whom  it 
concerns. 

We  have  many  among  us,  very  many,  who  keep 
out  of  the  reach  of  denominational  influence.  Is 
6 


82  THE    POSITIOjST    of    CHRISTIANITY 

there  no  larger  platform  on  which  these  might  be 
saved  ?  Can  no  plan  be  devised  for  them  ?  Is  there 
no  salvation  out  of  the  great  denominations  into 
which  these  can  be  inducted  ?  We  admit  and  admire 
what  has  been  done  by  the  Bible  Society,  the  Tract 
Society,  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  and 
last,  but  chiefly,  the  American  Sunday  School  Union. 
These  efforts,  however,  instead  of  exhibiting  what  can 
be  done  by  joint  effort  for  the  cause  of  Christ,  only 
show  what  might  be  done.  All  these,  and  many 
more,  might  be  sustained,  without  weakening  denomi- 
national effort."=^ 

*  The  following  remarks  are  from  the  Sunday  School  Journal,  of 
the  1st  of  March,  1854.  They  are  sufficiently  to  the  point  to  induce 
their  insertion  here. 

"  It  has  been  said,  not  unfrequently,  concerning  eiforts  to  propagate 
the  Christian  faith  by  a  union  of  its  professors,  -without  respect  to 
its  denominational  relations,  that  the  truth  must  suiFer  severe  wrong. 
In  other  words,  that  the  various  communities  whhich  are  known  by 
sectarian  names  owe  it  to  themselves  and  to  the  cause  of  truth,  to 
act  separately  in  promoting  the  spread  of  religion,  and  by  no  means 
to  consent  to,  or  co-operate  in,  any  scheme  of  Christian  benevolence 
which  constrains  them  to  keep  out  of  view  their  distinctive  doctrines 
or  usages.  If  they  cannot  be  allowed  to  introduce  those  peculiarities 
of  belief  which  distinguish  them  from  the  rest  of  the  family  of  Christ, 
those  who  hold  sucb  opinions  decline  to  countenance  or  further  any 
plan  of  Christian  effort  which  involves  religious  instruction. 

"It  is  not  our  purpose,  just  now,  to  controvert  this  view.  Its 
soundness  is  likely  to  be  tested  in  good  earnest,  and  it  will  not  take 
many  years  to  determine  whether  the  sectarian  phases  of  Christianity 
commend  it  most  favorably  to  the  consideration  of  those  whom  it  is 
intended  to  bless  and  save.  The  experiment  will  be  a  costly  one, 
however.  If  the  perpetual  or  prominent  exhibition  of  the  contro- 
verted points  of  faith,  and  the  discussion  of  them  among  those  who 
hold  in  common  what  are  known  as  the  doctrines  of  the  Evangelical 
church  in  its  various  branches,  shall  be  the  means  of  increasing  the 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  83 

The  very  spirit  of  our  civil  institutions  seems  to 
demand  the  construction,  for  a  special  purpose,  of  a 
wider  platform.  "We  offer  a  home  to  all,  whatever 
their  opinions;  if  they  decline  coming  within  the 
range  of  denominational  effort,  should  not  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  United  States  be  able  to  offer  them  such 
religious  instruction  as,  though  it  may  not  be  Ar- 
minian,  or  Calvinistic,  shall  be  strictly  Evangelical? 
In  a  certain  sense,  as  we  have  seen,  Christianity  is 
the  law  of  the  country ;  in  that  sense  it  is  the  very 
foundation  on  which  our  civil  institutions  are  con- 
structed, and,  to  that  extent,  instruction  in  it  is  not 
only  essential,  in  reference  to  the  eternal  welfare  of 
individuals,  but  to  the  permanence  and  continued  im- 

power  of  a  corrupt  but  imposing  hierarchy,  or  of  multiplying  recruits 
for  the  army  of  aliens  and  infidels,  it  'will  be  no  easy  matter  for  the 
truth,  as  all  our  Evangelical  churches  hold  it,  to  regain  its  present 
position,  or  to  retain  the  means  of  diffusing  itself  which  it  now 
possesses. 

"  It  is  a  question  not  unworthy  of  thought,  whether  the  chief 
advantages  supposed  to  be  derived  from  sect-organization  might  not 
be  retained  consistently  with  a  much  more  liberal  course  towards 
methods  of  propagating  a^common  faith.  Instead  of  an  effort  to  make 
the  peculiar  doctrines  or  usages  of  a  denomination  of  equal  importance 
with  the  common  faith,  or  even  greater,  let  its  advocates  be  satisfied 
with  elevating  them  above  the  sect-doctrines  or  usages  of  other  deno- 
minations, allowing  to  the  common  faith  a  superiority  above  them 
all.  We  are  persuaded  that  if  the  voice  of  all  who  profess  and  call 
themselves  Christians  could  be  uttered  this  day,  uninfluenced  by  party 
leaders  and  champions,  it  would  be  given,  like  the  voice  of  many 
waters,  for  relaxing  the  cords  which  bind  Christians  in  separate  com- 
munities as  sects,  and  for  giving  new  strength  and  increased  pressure 
to  those  which  unite  them  as  followers  of  Christ.  The  sentiment 
OF  THE  Church,  at  this  moment,  is  for  Union  —  and  the  war- 
fare of  sects,  like  the  warfare  of  states  and  nations,  is  waged  by  the 
will  of  the  few  at  the  cost  of  the  many.'' 


84  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

i:)rovenient  of  our  institutions.  The  indisposition  to 
any  such  union  of  effort  among  those  of  differing 
religious  persuasions,  is  a  positive  dereUction  of  Cliris- 
tian  obhgation.  Whilst  Christians  keep  faithfully 
with  all  the  world  their  compact  of  religious  toleration, 
not  violating  it  in  letter  or  in  spirit,  let  them  never- 
theless pay  all  their  Christian  duty  to  the  whole 
population  abiding  under  that  compact.  The  security 
for  permanence  to  this  toleration  lies  in  the  con- 
tinuance of  an  enlarged  comprehension  of  Christianity. 
Toleration  so  comj^lete  exists  in  no  other  country,  and 
can  only  be  sustained  here  by  the-  moral  force  of  these 
enlarged  views.  There  is  no  denomination  now  in 
the  United  States  which  would,  if  completely  in  the 
ascendant,  grant  a  toleration  so  large  as  that  we  now 
enjoy.  This  religious  liberty,  then,  is  a  more  enlarged 
conception  than  that  of  any  one  church.  It  is  the 
spirit  of  Christianity  which  reigns  over  all  of  them 
v/hich  dictates  it.  Should  not  this  spirit,  this  ''ge- 
neral Christianity,"  as  it  is  termed  by  Judge  Duncan, 
be  cherished,  taught,  and  inculcated  ujDon  the  people, 
and  upon  their  children,  as  an  essential  feature  of  our 
civil  polity,  and  necessary  to  its  continuance  ?  It  is 
needful,  even  in  the  estimation  of  the  unbeliever ;  for 
he  has  no  security  for  his  freedom  of  opinion  and  of 
speech,  but  in  that  generous  toleration  which  springs 
from  enlarged  Christian  views  ? 

If  souls  are  saved  in  the  Methodist  Church,  in  the 
Baptist,  in  the  Episcopalian,  in  the  Presbyterian 
Churches,  are  they  saved  in  each  Church  by  those 
doctrines  which  are  regarded  as  peculiar  to  each? 
Or  are  they  saved  by  that  faith  which  is  common  to 
them  all  ?     If  the  latter,  what  must  be  said  of  those 


IN"    THE     UNITED     STATES.  85 

who  are  greater  sticklers  for  the  differences  —  the  pe 
cuUarities  —  than  they  are  for  the  saving  truths  upon 
which  all  are  agreed  ?  If  men  will  only  take  care  of 
the  great  outer  boundaries  of  their  lands,  they  may 
remove  their  division  fences  without  any  injury  to 
the  fertility  or  productiveness  of  the  soil ;  indeed,  the 
land  of  any  district  might  be  worked  with  greater 
advantage  without  the  usual  lines  of  separation,  if 
the  owners  could  only  agree.  In  matters  of  property 
this  divisional  selfishness  may  be  excusable,  but 
should  the  same  spirit  pervade  the  churches  ?  Is  the 
grace  of  God  and  the  word  of  God  to  be  hedged  in  by 
such  lines  ?  Should  we  be  unwilling  to  save  souls, 
unless  they  are  first  made  Baptists  or  Presbyterians  ? 
After  the  great  denominations  have  done  all  they  can, 
in  their  separate  churches,  can  they  not  unite  to  oc- 
cupy that  vast  region  which  lies  outside  of  all  ?  If 
they  refuse  or  neglect,  on  the  ground  of  their  differ- 
ences, then  they  exalt  their  differences  above  that 
simple  faith  in  Christ  which  enures  to  eternal  life. 

The  Siniday  School  Union  might,  by  a  generous 
support  from  the  principal  Churches  of  the  country, 
be  placed  in  a  position  of  vast  power  to  do  good.  We 
have  seen,  however,  within  a  few  years,  many  proofs 
of  a  disposition  to  withhold  from  it  all  help  and  all 
countenance.  The  tendency  recently  has  been  visibly 
and  unduly  to  separate  action. 

We  are,  however,  not  the  advocate  of  any  joarticular 
institution  or  any  particular  plan ;  our  position  is, 
that  the  Christianity  which  is  common  to  the  Evan- 
gelical denominations,  is  immeasurably  more  important 
than  that  which  is  in  dispute  between  them.     It  is. 


86  THE     POSITION    OF     CHRISTIANITY 

therefore,  the  duty  of  Christians  in  the  United  States, 
to  teach  this  common  Christianity  to  the  youth  of  the 
country  and  to  all  those  whom  the  ordinary  range  of 
denominational  effort  cannot  reach.  And  should  not 
all  Churches  unite  in  this  effort,  by  sustaining  amply 
every  institution  and  enterprise  having  this  object  in 
view  ?  Christianity  is  of  so  liberal  and  expansive  a 
nature,  that  judged  by  its  true  spirit,  intense  denomi- 
nationalism,  to  which  there  is  so  strong  an  inclination 
and  of  which  so  many  examples  are  multiplying  before 
our  eyes,  is  little  less  sinful  than  intense  selfishness. 
They  spring  from  a  common  source  and  may  possibly 
incur  a  common  condemnation.  We  doubt  not,  how- 
ever, that  the  motive  is  often  better  than  the  deed. 

If  Christianity  in  a  certain  sense  is  the  law  of  the 
land,  and  if  in  that  sense  it  must  be  sustained  and 
taught  as  a  part  of  our  civil  polity,  it  becomes  an  im- 
perative Christian,  as  well  as  civil  duty,  to  define  in 
what  sense  it  is  the  law  of  the  land  and  how  it  is  to 
be  inculcated.  This  duty  cannot  be  ascertained  nor 
fulfilled  through  any  denominational  agency.  It  is  a 
duty  which  belongs  to  the  community  of  Christian 
citizens  and  not  to  any  family  or  denomination.  No 
intelligent  Christian  need  be  asked  whether  our 
present  civil  polity  would  be  safe  if  Christianity  were 
banished  from  the  land ;  and  we  may  add,  if  human 
nature  remains  the  same,  it  would  scarcely  be  safer 
under  the  domination  of  any  single  sect.  Power  and 
wealth  are  too  corrupting  not  to  exhibit  their  effects 
rapidly  in  any  community  where  they  are  exercised 
without  sufficient  restraint.  The  purity  of  our  na- 
tional character  and  of  our  profession  of  Christianity, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  87 

is  secured  mainly  under  Providence  by  our  manifold 
divisions  —  territorial,  legislative,  administrative,  civil 
and  religious.  All  these  form  so  many  mutual  barriers 
and  restraints,  so  many  limitations  of  power,  so  many 
safe-guards  of  our  liberties  and  of  our  national  virtue. 


SECTION  X. 

Special  questions  for  the  consideration  of  Christians  in  the  United 

States. 

TnEEE  are  great  public  duties  then  incumbent  on 
the  Christians  of  the  United  States  and  upon  such 
citizens  as  acknowledge  Christian  obligations.  They 
cannot,  without  a  grave  dereliction  of  Christian  duty, 
confine  all  their  love  of  country,  all  their  zeal  for 
humanity,  all  their  efforts  for  the  extension  of  the 
Eedeemer's  Kingdom,  to  the  narrow  sphere  of  denomi- 
national action;  they  must  turn  their  eyes  to  the 
whole  country  and  to  its  whole  population,  to  ascer- 
tain what  additional  obligations  lie  upon  them  in 
reference  to  the  entire  social  domain,  in  its  civil  as 
well  as  in  its  religious  aspects.  We  have  already  in- 
timated, that  one  duty  of  this  kind  met  our  fathers  i"n 
their  first  steps  under  our  present  institutions  —  that 
of  ascertaining  and  defining  the  legal  and  social  posi- 
tion of  Christianity.  This  subject  has  received  so 
little  attention,  compared  with  its  importance,  that  it 
may  be  regarded  as  yet  to  be  performed.     It  is  true, 


88  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

great  light  has  occasionally  been  shed  upon  it  and 
well  defined  opinions  upon  it  have  from  time  to  time 
emanated  from  our  judiciary,  the  j)urest  of  our  civil 
institutions ;  but  this  light  has  not  been  concentrated, 
and  these  opinions  have  not  yet  been  arranged  and 
examined,  with  a  view  to  determine  their  bearing 
and  to  ascertain  how  much  of  the  field  is  explored, 
and  how  much  and  what  joortions  remain  to  be  sur- 
veyed. The  work  has  been  long  delayed,  and  whilst 
the  field  has  been  unoccupied  the  unfriendly  and  the 
thoughtless  have  entered  and  sown  broadcast  the 
seeds  of  error.  The  delay  has,  however,  furnished 
some  valuable  material  and  a  large  fund  of  observation 
and  experience.  If  our  fathers  had,  at  the  first,  en- 
gaged earnestly  in  the  adjustment  of  this  question, 
they  would  have  saved  much  mischief  and  forestalled 
many  wrong  conclusions,  though  they  had  lacked 
many  materials  for  safe  and  wise  determination.  It 
has  been  regarded  as  a  dehcate  subject ;  politicians 
were  afraid  of  it,  sectarians  felt  no  concern  in  it,  and 
the  judges  alone  have  brought  to  it  any  degree  of 
courage  and  intelligence. 

Without  pretending  to  point  out  even  the  main 
duties  which  press  most  strongly  on  the  Christian 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  we  indicate  three  as  of 
urgent  importance. 

First :  To  discuss,  define  and  settle  the  true  position 
of  Christianity  in  the  United  States,  thereby  showing 
what  Christians  may  and  should  do  here  for  the 
benefit  of  men,  without  departing  from  the  principles 
of  toleration  which  pervade  all  our  institutions. 

/Second  :  To  determine,  prescribe  and  carry  into 
operation  that  system  of  public  education,  including 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  89 

ample  religious  iDstruction,  which  is  best  fitted  to 
prepare  the  rising  generation  for  the  discharge  of  all 
the  social  duties  which  are  to  devolve  upon  them,  for 
the  wisest  and  most  efficient  administration  of  our 
free  institutions,  for  human  advantage,  and  for  that 
perpetuation  and  improvement  of  them  which  is  so 
important  to  the  future  destinies  of  the  human  family. 

Third :  To  consider,  understand  and  establish  the 
claims  of  labor.  The  masses  of  men  here,  as  else- 
where, are  laborers,  working  out  the  sentence  which 
dooms  man  to  eat  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow. 
Vast  multitudes  are  poor,  and  are  often  in  danger  of 
not  finding  the  labor  which  will  enable  them  to  earn 
any  bread.  These  men  and  their  families,  and  their 
cause,  should  be  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  considera- 
tion for  the  Christian  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

The  first  of  these  topics  has  been  the  chief  subject 
of  the  foregoing  pages :  the  last  we  reserve  for  a  future 
paper.  Our  remaining  remarks  wilt  be  upon  the 
subject  of  Public  Education. 


SECTION  XI. 


Public   Education   ia  the   United   States   considered  in  its   civil  and 
religious  aspects.     Religious  instruction  in  the  Public  Schools. 

It  would  be  strange  indeed  if  special  responsibilities 
Avere  not  entailed  upon  the  Christian  citizens  of  the 
United  States  on  the  subject  of  public  education. 
Christian  parents  are  always  and  every  where  under 
heavy  obligations  to  train   their  chiklren   properly. 


90  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

Not  only  the  same  obligations  which  press  upon  all 
Christian  parents,  rest  upon  them  here,  but  many  that 
are  entirely  new  and  peculiar  to  the  position  of  Chris- 
tianity in  this  country.  There  is,  indeed,  a  training 
of  the  young  in  Christian  families  which  is  indis^Den- 
sable,  as  far  as  it  can  be  secured,  and  is  the  same 
every  where.  Then  there  is  that  training  for  active 
and  useful  life  which  is  equally  indispensable,  and  not 
merely  a  private  but  a  public  consideration. 

The  nation  which  makes  the  welfare  of  its  citizens 
a  primary  object,  is  just  as  much  bound  to  care  for 
the  education  of  the  young,  as  are  the  respective 
parents  of  the  children.  The  duty  of  the  joarent 
stands  first ;  if  that  is  neglected,  the  State  is  in  loco 
■jparentis.  As  one  generation  passes  away,  the  whole 
concerns  of  a  peo23le  are  to  be  committed  to  the  gene- 
ration that  follows.  In  proportion  to  the  importance 
of  the  concerns  to  be  thus  committed  to  a  coming 
generation  should  their  preparation  be,  who  are 
to  assume  these  responsibilities.  If  our  civil  and 
social  institutions  have  such  a  value  as  we  have  as- 
sumed them  to  have,  and  as  they  are  expected  to 
have ;  if  our  liberty,  civil  and  religious,  is  worth  pre- 
serving ;  if  the  highest  hopes  for  human  destiny  are 
wrapped  up  in  our  republican  governments ;  if  Chris- 
tianity itself  is  deeply  interested  in  our  national  virtue 
and  in  our  national  prosperity,  for  the  lessons  we  may 
give  and  the  good  we  may  do  to  the  rest  of  the  world, 
then  surely  the  preparation  of  our  children  —  all  our 
children — the  adequate  public^  as  well  as  private 
training  which  each  succeeding  generation  should  re- 
ceive, should  not  fall  short  of  what  the  whole  power 
and  wisdom  of  the  State  and  the  parents  can  bestow. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  91 

It  is  a  preparation  which  cannot  be  left  to  the  action 
of  parents  alone,  not  onlj  because  it  would  be 
unequally  and  inadequately  accomplished,  but  because 
to  a  very  large  extent  it  would  not  be  done  at  all. 
The  State  must  at  least  furnish  the  means  and  facili- 
ties which  a  portion  of  the  parents  neglect  to  supply. 

If  education  in  a  country  should  be  at  public  ex- 
pense as  the  most  important  concern  of  a  state,  it 
should  be  of  universal  application  and  as  complete  as 
possible  in  itself,  because  the  public  good  dictates  it, 
public  safety  requires  it,  and  because  the  Christian 
principle  is  that  we  must  love  and  care  for  others  as 
well  as  for  ourselves,  and  of  course  not  deny  to  the 
children  of  others,  the  benefits  we  give  our  own,  and 
least  of  all,  deny  to  them  the  message  of  eternal  life, 
and  the  benefits  of  Christian  morality.  To  leave  the 
children  committed  by  their  parents  to  the  state,  or 
those  wholly  neglected  by  their  parents  to  the  chance 
and  motley  education,  especially  in  reference  to 
their  knowledge  of  Christianity,  which  they  might  or 
might  not  receive  from  their  parents  or  under  their 
direction,  would  l^e  to  abandon  more  than  one-half 
the  children  of  the  nation  to  practical  heathenism,  to 
no  education  or  a  very  imjDcrfect  one.  The  obliga- 
tions of  public  and  universal  education  are  so  gene- 
rally admitted,  that  it  is  scarcely  needful  to  press 
them. 

In  the  present  state  of  civilization  and  national  intel- 
ligence, the  question  of  national  instruction  for  chil- 
dren cannot  be  left  to  the  action  of  parents ;  it  must 
be  regarded  at  this  day,  and  probably  for  a  long  time 
to  come,  as  the  most  indispensable  feature  of  wise 
national  policy  in  a  Christian  country,  to  give  all  the 


92  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

children  of  the  nation  that  trainins;  which  will  fit 
them  for  Christian  citizenship.*     The  main  problem 

*  The  following  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania, 
made  at  their  December  term,  1838,  in  the  case  of  a  Habeas  Corpus 
to  remove  a  child  from  the  House  of  Refuge  in  Philadelphia,  indi- 
cates very  clearly  the  law  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  last  resort  on  this 
subject  of  preventive  education. 

"  To  this  end,  may  not  the  natural  parents,  when  unequal  to  the 
task  of  education,  or  unworthy  of  it,  be  superseded  by  the  parens 
patrise,  or  common  guardian  of  the  community?  It  is  to  be  re- 
membered that  the  public  has  a  paramount  interest  in  the  virtue 
and  knowledge  of  its  members,  and  that,  of  strict  right,  the  business 
of  education  belongs  to  it.  That  parents  are  ordinarily  intrusted 
with  it,  is  because  it  can  seldom  be  put  into  better  hands  :  but  where 
they  are  incompetent  or  corrupt,  what  is  there  to  prevent  the  public 
from  withdrawing  their  faculties,  held,  as  they  obviously  are,  at 
its  suffering  ?  The  right  of  parental  control  is  a  natural  but  not  an 
unalienable  one.  It  is  not  excepted  hi/  the  Declaration  of  Rights 
out  of  the  suhjects  of  ordinary  legislation ;  and  it  consequently  re- 
mains subject  to  the  ordinary  legislative  power,  ichich,  if  wantonly 
or  inconveniently  itsed,  would  soon  he  constitutionally  restricted,  hut 
the  competency  of  ichich,  as  the  government  is  constituted,  cannot  he 
douhfed.  As  to  abridgment  of  indefeasible  rights  by  confinement  of 
the  person,  it  is  no  more  than  what  is  borne,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  in  every  school ;  and  wc  know  of  no  natural  right  to  exemp- 
tion fi-om  restraints  which  conduce  to  an  infant's  welfare.  Nor  is 
there  a  doubt  of  the  propriety  of  their  application  in  the  particular 
instance.  The  infant  has  been  snatched  from  a  course  which  must 
have  ended  in  confirmed  depravity ;  and,  not  only  is  the  restraint  of 
her  person  lawful,  but  it  would  be  an  act  of  extreme  cruelty  to  re- 
lease her  from  it." 

In  a  similar  case,  the  Chief  Justice  of  another  state,  holds  this 
language : 

"  How  deeply  does  it  concern  the  community,  to  take  these  little 
creatures  by  the  hand,  when  they  shall  have  committed  the  first 
oiTence  —  withdraw  them  from  contamination  and  guilt  —  provide  the 
means  of  industry  and  education  —  soften  their  minds  to  the  recep- 
tion of  moral  and  religious  truth  —  and  gradually,  by  gentle  treat- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  93 

is  to  deteraiine  what  is  to  be  the  nature  of  this  edu- 
cation, and  how  it  is  to  be  administered. 

The  highest  wisdom  of  the  country,  the  utmost 
Christian  penetration  is  little  enough  to  prescribe  the 
course  of  instruction  which  should  be  given  to  our 
youth.  They  grow  up  together  in  the  midst  of  the 
same  social  advantages  and  liberties,  to  administer 
and  obey  the  same  laws,  to  use  aright  or  abuse  the 
powers  entrusted  to  them,  to  fulfil  the  social  duties 
which  Providence  and  their  position  has  imposed 
upon  them,  or  to  fail  at  once  in  their  duty  to  Heaven, 
to  themselves,  and  to  their  fellow-men,  disappointing 
the  fondest  hopes  of  the  friends  of  humanity  through- 
out the  world.  If  we  are  right  in  our  estimate  of  the 
responsible  position  of  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  we  cannot  be  mistaken  in  taking  a  high 
standard  for  the    education  due    to   their  children. 

ment  and  wholesome  discipline,  lure  them  into  the  habits  of  order, 
truth,  and  honesty.  Is  there  any  greater  duty  in  a  Christian  country 
than  this  ?  Is  it  not  plucking  brands  from  the  burning,  and  saving 
souls  from  death  ?  Is  it  not  the  cheapest  and  the  best  way  of  pre- 
serving the  peace  and  tranquillity  of  the  community,  and  guarding 
the  fruits  of  industry  ?" 

If  the  duty  of  the  State  to  pluck  these  little  brands  from  the  burn- 
ing be  so  strong  and  apparent,  is  it  not  equally  its  duty  to  search  for 
the  origin  of  the  evil,  and  endeavor  to  sweeten  the  fountain  of  these 
bitter  waters  ?  Can  it  be,  as  some  have  asserted  who  ought  to  know 
better,  that  the  duty  of  the  State  is  simply  the  administration  of 
justice, — to  punish  offenders  but  not  to  hinder  the  offence, — to  stand 
immovable  while  the  murder  is  in  progress  and  then  hang  the  mur- 
derer ?  Such  doctrines  flatly  contravene  the  theory  of  our  govern- 
ment, the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  social  and  political,  and  the  whole 
policy  of  our  legislation.  Government  in  the  United  States  is  no 
mere  negation.  It  is  still  the  depository  of  vast  powers  unexercised ; 
it  is  for  the  people  to  call  them  into  exercise  whenever  it  can  be  done 
for  public  benefit. 


94  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

Our  fathers  were  trained  in  a  severe  school,  in 
which  with  minds  chastened  by  hardship  they  be- 
came rich  in  experience,  both  civil  and  religious. 
They  have  bequeathed  to  us  our  present  position 
in  the  world  and  our  social  institutions,  —  the  admi- 
ration of  all  people ;  their  preparation  for  a  task  so 
successfully  performed,  was  providential;  our  training 
or  preparation  for  carrying  on  the  great  work  of 
human  amelioration  which  they  began,  should  be 
specially  designed  and  wisely  adapted  to  the  great 
objects  in  view.  We  can  scarcely  imagine  any 
human  position  in  which  a  whole  generation  of  the 
young,  upon  whom  the  highest  qualifications  which 
a  proper  training  can  bestow  had  been  conferred, 
could  render  such  real  service  to  the  whole  human 
family,  as  in  the  United  States.  There  is  here,  then, 
every  inducement  which  the  world  can  afford,  for 
conferring  upon  the  young  all  the  qualifications  and 
fitness  which  education  can  give.  The  same  reasons 
which  evince  its  importance,  prove  that  this  education 
should  be  provided  for  all  the  children. 

It  is  well  kno^vn  that  the  opinions  of  a  large  pro- 
portion of  our  intelligent  people  are  in  favor  of  a  high 
grade  of  education;  few  schools  have,  in  fact,  yet 
reached  the  results  which  this  large  majority  regard 
as  desirable  and  attainable.  It  is  very  clear,  indeed, 
that  the  desired  result,  for  the  entire  population,  can 
never  be  reached  by  any  power,  or  any  means,  short 
of  those  only  which  can  be  employed  by  the  State. 
The  disjointed  and  unequal  efforts,  and  the  differing 
opinions  of  parents  and  Christian  denominations,  will 
ever  stand  in  the  way  of  any  thorough  and  effective 


IN    THE     UNITED     STATES.  95 

system  of  education  independent  of  the  State;  the 
public  at  large,  for  there  can  be  no  other,  is  the 
proper  umpire  of  these  differences,  the  proper  medium 
of  concerted  action,  and  the  only  adequate  repository 
of  power.  There  is  no  other  resort  in  cases  where 
the  parents  refuse  or  are  unable  to  educate  their 
children,  or  where  they  are  disposed  to  educate  them 
in  a  manner  wholly  inconsistent  with  our  institutions. 
There  may  be  some  disposed  to  question  the 
Legislative  power  of  our  States  to  enforce  the  edu- 
cation of  children.  A  little  consideration  will  con- 
vince any  one  that  there  is  no  lack  of  power,  when 
the  people  desire  their  representatives  to  employ  it.* 
It  may  be  a  question  of  expediency  whether  a  com- 
pulsory system  should  not  be  adopted,  applicable  to 
all  who  neglect  to  educate  or  to  send  their  children 
to  public  schools.  In  one  aspect,  compulsory  attend- 
ance upon  schools  may  seem  repugnant  to  our  national 
prejudices.  We  know  not  whether  any  such  system 
exists  in  the  United  States;  that  generally  adopted 
leaves  to  parents  the  option  of  sending  their  children 
to  the  public  schools,  private  schools  of  their  own 
selection,  or  to  no  schools  at  all.  It  is  evident  that 
this  is  but  the  first  step  in  a  system  of  public  instruc- 
tion. It  is  perhaps  safest,  as  well  as  most  expedient, 
at  present,  in  this  country,  to  leave  the  parents  to  a 
choice  between  the  public  schools  and  those  of  their 
own  selection.  It  cannot  be  admitted  here  as  either 
sound  or  safe  doctrine,  that  children  may  go  wholly 
uneducated,  if  their  parents  neglect  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  public  schools.     If  the  government  of  a 

*  As  to  the  Legislative  power  over  children,  and  the  right  of 
instruction,  see  note,  ante,  p.  92. 


96  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

State  lias  the  power  to  prevent  crime  as  well  as  punish 
it ;  if  it  has  the  power  to  check  youthful  delinquency 
as  well  as  punish  it,  then  the  question  being  in  what 
circumstances  and  at  what  age  the  neglected  child 
shall  come  under  supervision  of  public  authority,  it 
cannot  be  difficult  to  decide  that  the  State  may  place 
the  child  at  a  public  school  before  it  becomes  necessary 
to  place  it  in  a  prison,  house  of  refuge,  or  house  of 
correction  or  detention.  A  shrewd  Scotsman  advises 
his  countrymen  rather  to  pay  £30  to  educate  a  child 
than  <£oOO  to  try,  imprison,  punish,  or  transport  a 
criminal  offender. 

Crime  will  ever  be  encountered,  in  every  system  of 
society,  amongst  the  educated  as  well  as  the  ignorant; 
but  that  a  proper  education  is  a  preventive  is  as  sus- 
ceptible of  proof  as  any  other  fact.  It  is  well  known, 
too,  that  it  is  far  more  economical  to  prevent  crime 
than  to  punish  it ;  but,  if  not  more  economical,  what 
considerations,  or  what  obstacles,  should  stand  in  the 
way  of  the  preventive  process,  as  a  public  measure, 
compared  with  the  punishing  process  ?  On  the  one 
hand,  we  have  all  the  advantage  of  making  indus- 
trious and  virtuous  citizens,  and  on  the  other,  all  the 
disadvantages  of  having  a  horde  of  idle  and  crimmal 
vagabonds,  to  grow  up  and  crowd  our  prisons  and 
penitentiaries  for  offences  against  life  and  property. 
No  one  can  estimate  the  real  evil  to  a  country  of  such 
a  population ;  and  certainly  no  one  should  object  to 
nipping  such  an  evil  in  the  bud,  if  needful,  by  a  com- 
pulsory attendance  upon  the  public  schools.  There 
should  be  no  hesitation  between  a  prison  and  a  school ; 
ignorance  is  crime  enough  to  justify  puljlic  interven- 
tion and  an  enforced  education. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  97 

SECTION"  XII. 

The  kind  of  Education  necessary,  &c. — The  Objections  of  the  Hierarchy. 

It  may  be  said  however,  after  all,  that  the  sound- 
ness of  these  conclusions  depends  on  the  kind  of 
education  which  is  contemplated;  and  it  may  be 
inquired  whether  any  adequate  education  can  be 
imparted  in  a  public  school.  These  considerations 
are  certainly  met  by  the  fact  that,  in  very  many 
respects,  the  best  schools  in  the  United  States  are 
public  schools.  This  superiority  extends  to  many 
departments  of  public  education,  and  furnishes  abun- 
dant reason  to  believe  that  these  schools  may,  by 
proper  effort  of  proper  persons,  be  raised  to  a  degree 
of  perfection  and  efficiency  scarcely  conceived  at  the 
present  time. 

The  objection  that  education  in  the  public  schools 
must  always  be  defective  because  there  can  be  in  them 
no  religious  instruction  is  simply  begging  a  great 
question.  Our  first  reply  to  it  is,  that  the  Christian 
instruction  imparted  there  must  be  exactly  that  which 
the  Christian  citizens  of  the  United  States  determine 
it  shall  be ;  neither  more  nor  less ;  for,  within  certain 
limits,  they  have  power  over  the  whole  subject.  As 
great  misconception  prevails  on  this  subject,  and  as  it 
requires,  perhaps,  some  reflection  to  place  it  in  its 
true  light,  we  shall  devote  to  it  a  few  remarks,  in  the 
hope  of  provoking  abler  pens  to  the  task  of  vindi- 
cating the  Christian  character  of  our  public  schools. 

We  deny  emphatically  that  instruction  in  Chris- 
tianity should  be  excluded  from  our  public  schools. 
7 


98  THE    POSITION"    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

We  aver  with  confidence,  that  there  is  a  pecuUar  pro- 
priety and  necessity  that  the  scliools  of  a  Christian 
people  should  be  Christian  schools.     We  have  shown 
^  by  the  highest  authority,  that  Christianity  is  an  ele- 
ment in  the  law  of  the  country ;  that  our  civilization 
is  Christian  civilization ;  that  the  morality  which  is 
the  basis  of  our  legislation,  and  of  our  whole  social 
system,  is   Christian   morality;    that   the   toleration 
which   we   have   established   among   ourselves,  and 
extend  to  all  who  come  among  us,  is  Christian  tolera- 
tion ;  that  the  oath  or  affirmation  which  is  the  security 
for  all  official  faithfulness,  from  the  highest  office  in 
the  land  to  the  lowest,  and  the  guarantee  of  truthful- 
ness  for  all  judicial   evidence,  is  an  appeal  to  the 
Christian's  God ;  that  the  days  of  fasting  and  prayer, 
and  the  days  of  thanksgiving,  which  are  from  time  to 
time  appointed   by  our  rulers,  are  acts  of  national 
homage  to  the  God  of  Christians ;  that  the  Chaplains 
appointed  for  our  Legislative  bodies  and  for  the  Army 
and  Navy,  and  the  compulsory  attendance  of  soldiers 
and  sailors  upon  public  worship,  required  by  law,  are 
a  national  acknowledgment  of  God.    With  these  facts 
in  view,  is  it  not  a  monstrous  act  of  national  impiety 
to  deny  all  this  knowledge  to  the  children  in  the 
public  schools,  and  all  the  reasons  for  this  national 
^  homage  to  Christianity  ? 

There  has  never  been  a  more  suicidal  position  taken 
by  the  most  unwise  of  our  politicians  or  statesmen,  or 
the  worst  of  our  internal  foes,  than  this  exclusion  of 
Christianity  from  public  education.  The  worst  enemy 
of  humanity  could  not  have  devised  a  doctrine  more 
dangerous  to  our  republican  institutions.  It  is  fortu- 
nately too  absurd,  too  monstrous,  too  unthankful,  to 


IN"    THE    UNITED     STATES.  99 

take  deep  and  lasting  root  in  American  soil.  On  a 
subject  of  such  moment,  frankness  is,  indeed,  a  posi- 
tive Christian  duty.  It  is  not  of  American  origin.  It 
is  the  Papal  doctrine  of  education  for  the  United 
States ;  though  not  the  Papal  doctrine  in  Papal  coun- 
tries. Where  Papal  doctrine  is  complete  or  greatly 
preponderates,  the  education  of  the  children  is  claimed 
by  the  Church  as  her  prerogative,  and  she  gives  them 
a  training  strictly  religious,  according  to  the  tenets 
of  the  Papal  Church.  In  the  United  States  this 
Church  is  the  first  and  chief,  if  not  the  only  objector, 
to  religious  instruction  in  our  public  schools. 

This  is  the  asjDect  of  the  subject  which  has  perhaps 
most  deterred  inquirers  from  engaging  in  it.  But  the 
subject  is  of  such  importance,  and  freedom  of  speech 
is  so  indispensable  to  its  proper  treatment,  that  it 
argues  want  of  manliness  to  yield  a  truth  vital  to  our 
religious  and  political  system,  for  want  of  courage  to 
assert  it.  We  are  by  no  means  insensible  to  the 
many  faults  of  Protestantism,  taken  collectively ;  we 
have  dwelt  upon  these  faults  with  sorrow,  if  not  with 
indignation ;  yet  we  feel  bound  to  affirm,  that  the 
toleration  of  which  we  have  spoken  as  so  remarkable 
a  characteristic  of  our  civil  institutions,  is  Protestant 
toleration,  an  emanation  of  Protestant  Christianity. 
We  cheerfully  concede,  that  the  Catholic  laymen  of 
this  country  are  as  truly  patriotic  and  faithful  to  the 
country  as  other  citizens ;  but  the  constitution  of  that 
Church  did  not  grow  up  in  our  free  atmosphere.  It 
is  the  product  of  ecclesiastical  and  aristocratic  power ; 
it  is  still  oristocratic  in  its  government  and  irrecon- 
cilable with  the  theory  of  our  civil  polity  in  many 
important  respects.     The  Church  of  Rome  holds  all 


100  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

without  its  pale  to  be  heretics ;  and  under  its  present 
constitution  it  neither  can  nor  ever  will,  adopt  or 
concede  the  principle  of  toleration ;  it  may  practise 
toleration  from  expediency,  it  may  accept  and  use  it 
as  a  boon  or  a  stepping-stone  to  power;  it  cannot 
yield  it  as  a  principle. 

Let  it  be  mentioned  to  the  honor  of  a  noble 
Catholic,  Lord  Baltimore,  that  he  was  the  first  upon 
this  continent  to  set  the  example  of  toleration ;  but 
he  was  not  an  Ecclesiastic,  and  did  not,  in  so  doing, 
represent  the  spirit  or  laws  of  his  Church,  or  even 
secure  its  approbation. '•"■  There  are  thousands,  nay 
millions,  of  intelligent  Catholic  laymen  who  would  at 
this  day,  if  free  from  Ecclesiastical  influence,  be  as 
ready  to  promote  toleration  and  freedom  of  religious 
worship  as  those  of  any  Protestant  denomination. 

The  position  we  take  is,  that  the  Papal  Church 
is  in  its  very  essence,  as  its  organs  sometimes  frankly 
avow,  adverse  to  all  religious  toleration.  In  this 
respect  it  is,  by  its  very  constitution,  adverse  to  our 
political  institutions.  The  Christianity  which,  in  a 
certain  limited  sense,  is  the  law  of  the  laud,  is  Pro- 
testant Christianity :  because,  in  its  main  feature,  its 
chief  characteristic,  it  is  directly  opposed  to  a  leading 
doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

Our  State  Constitutions  are  so  many  legal  warrants 
for  heresy;  they  expressly  declare  that  men  may 
worship  God  as  they  please,  and  guarantee  to  them 
this  right.  In  doing  this,  no  Protestant  principle  is 
violated,  but  one  of  the  most  binding  laws  of  the 
Papal  Church  is  flatly  contravened.  So  strongly  does 
this  Church  condemn  heresy,  that  is,  dissent  from 
*  See  Brownson's  Review,  October  1852,  p.  453. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  101 

Papal  practices  and  doctrines,  that  the  oath  prescribed 
to  its  Bishops  on  their  ordination,  contains  a  clause 
enjoining  persecution. :  "  Hceretlcos  schismaticos  et 
rehelles  eidem  Domino  nostro  vel  successorihus  pi'cedictis 
pro  posse  persequar  et  impugnabo!^  Heretics,  schis- 
matics, and  rehels  to  our  lord  (the  Pope)  and  his 
successors  I  icill  as  far  as  I  am  able,  persecute  and 
attack.  There  is,  consequently,  no  country  in  which, 
the  Catholic  Church  is  in  full  power,  where  men  are 
permitted  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of 
their  consciences ;  and  few,  if  any,  where  they  are 
not  at  this  day  persecuted  and  refused  even  the  right 
of  sepulture  in  a  Catholic  cemetery.  AVe  are  sensible 
that  there  is  much  intolerance  among  Protestants, 
and  there  is  no  Protestant  denomination  which  could 
be  safely  trusted  with  the  power  wielded  in  a  manner 
so  unchristian  by  the  Papal  Hierarchy. 

It  is  a  significant  fact,  that  the  only  State  in  our 
Union  which  has  neither  granted  nor  guaranteed 
liberty  of  worship  to  all  its  citizens,  is  Louisiana. 
How  far  that  remarkable  omission  is  due  to  Papal 
influences  in  a  State  in  which  the  Catholic  Church  is 
so  influential,  it  should  not  be  difficult  to  ascertain. 
It  is  desirable  to  know  whether  it  be  due  to  Hierar- 
chical influence,  to  party  truckling,  or  to  recreant 
Protestantism. 

The  Papal  Hierarchy  then  holds  a  principle,  which 
when  carried  out,  comes  directly  in  conflict  with  one 
of  the  grandest  features  of  our  civil  polity.  It  is 
necessary  not  to  overlook  this,  because  the  Papacy  goes 
steadil}^,  by  a  determination  which  never  varies,  and 
a  perseverance  which  never  flags,  to  the  establish- 
ment of  her  dominion  over  all  other  authority.     In 


102  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

doing  so,  her  Ecclesiastics  are  but  pursuing  the  spirit 
and  laws  of  her  system ;  she  claims  to  have  an  infal- 
lible Head,  and  may  therefore  very  consistently  claim 
precedence  over  all  other  authorities.  Infallibility 
itself,  as  a  claim  upon  the  part  of  a  church,  is  opposed 
to  the  spirit  of  our  political  system,  which  necessarily 
submits  very  many  questions  of  Christian  import,  as 
that  of  toleration,  for  instance,  to  the  decision  of  the 
people  or  their  representatives.  These  two  great 
features  of  the  Papacy  are  inconsistent  with  our  re- 
publicanism, and  this  truth  should  be  looked  in  the 
face,  not  because  that  church  menaces  our  national 
existence,  but  because  the  collision  of  these  opposing 
principles  must  soon  or  late  occur,  and  we  should  not 
only  prepare  for  the  contest,  but  we  should,  by  way 
of  prevention,  let  our  position  be  understood. 

There  is,  however,  another  reason  for  taking  this 
view ;  it  enables  us  to  comprehend  what  is  not  gene- 
rally understood,  that  the  freedom  of  worship  and 
the  rights  of  conscience  do  not  and  cannot  exist  with- 
out limitation.  The  Papal  claims  of  ascendencj', 
persecution  and  infallibility,  cannot  be  allowed  under 
any  claim  of  conscience  or  liberty  of  worship,  for  they 
are  dangerous  to  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  state. 
The  principle  of  limiting  religious  rights  to  those 
which  are  consistent  with  our  national  policy,  is  the 
more  needful  to  be  understood  and  insisted  upon,  be- 
cause it  may  be  necessary  to  apply  it  against  religious 
usurpations  by  Protestants  and  others,  as  well  as 
Romanists.  It  is  necessarj^  to  the  existence  of  our 
national  and  state  governments,  that  they  should  be 
as  fully  endowed  with  the  power  of  self-preservation 
on  the  side  of  religion,  as  upon  any  other  side.     Self- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  103 

preservation  is  as  much  a  law  of  national  as  of  indi- 
vidual life ;  and  danger  to  national  existence  may 
come  in  the  shape  of  Ecclesiastical  usurpation,  Pro- 
testant as  well  as  Papal. 

When  we  speak  of  the  Papal  Church,  we  mean 
the  Catholic  Hierarchy,  and  not  the  religion  of 
the  Catliolic  people  of  the  United  States;  for  this 
Hierarchy  claims  power  and  maintains  principles 
which  have  nothing  in  common  with  the  religion  of 
the  laity.  The  property  of  the  Church  is  held  by 
this  Hierarchy,  and  though  many  attempts  have  been 
made  by  the  Catholic  congregations  of  this  country, 
to  keep  in  their  own  hands  and  manage  their  own 
real  estate,  their  claim  has  been  steadfastly  resisted 
and  overruled;  a  virtual  admission  that  their  laymen 
cannot  be  relied  upon  for  implicit  obedience  to  the 
Hierarchy,  or  that  the  claims  of  the  Hierarchy  to 
absolute  control  are  not  to  be  modified,  even  in  com- 
pliment to  American  institutions.  Its  selfish  policy 
is  unchanging;  because  it  is  ihe  fiat  of  infallibility, 
it  looks,  as  the  proper  result  of  its  labors,  to  the  con- 
quest and  absorption  of  all  other  authority,  and  to 
the  conversion  to  that  Church  of  all  now  devoted  to 
other  forms  of  Christianity,  or  to  their  extirpation  as 
heretics,  or  to  their  complete  subjugation  as  rebels 
against  that  Church. 

The  Christianity  which  is  acknowledged  by  the 
United  States  as  a  nation,  is  that  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,  —  the  Bible.  All  denominations  of  Pro- 
testants receive  this  Bible  as  the  rule  of  their  faith ; 
they  do  not  coincide  in  all  points  in  its  interpretation, 
but  by  a  generous  concession  among  themselves,  and 
by  a  generous  offer  to  all  who  desire  to  live  among 


104  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

them,  they  agree  to  establish  a  religious  toleration 
so  liberal  and  so  ample,  that  men  of  every  faith,  and 
even  no  faith  may  live  under  it  unmolested.  This  tole- 
ration, we  repeat,  so  far  from  being  an  abandonment, 
is  an  exercise  of  one  of  the  noblest  traits  of  Chris- 
tianity. Protestants,  differing  widely  on  many  par- 
ticulars, make  this  concession  to  religious  differences, 
as  they  compromised  also  their  political  differences, 
and  they  offer  the  advantage  of  this  wise  concession 
to  all  the  world  beside.  The  Papal  Hierarchy  ac- 
cepts this  toleration,  flourishes  and  grows  under  it, 
but  it  makes  no  concession,  and  yields  not  a  particle 
of  its  enormous  claims.  It  pushes  forward  with  an 
unswerving  pace  to  that  full  domination  which,  ac- 
cording to  its  principles,  is  its  rightful  destiny.  It  is 
contrary  to  its  nature  to  make  a  compromise ;  it  may 
submit  to  necessity  or  yield  to  a  power  it  cannot  con- 
quer, but  it  steadfastly  refuses  any  compromise,  and 
will  not  abate  one  iota  of  its  infallibility.  It  cannot, 
therefore,  adopt  the  very  first  and  most  important 
principle  of  our  institutions  in  the  United  States. 

Offensive  as  are  these  principles,  they  are  not  too 
odious  for  our  national  toleration,  so  long  as  they  are 
not  manifested  in  overt  acts,  dangerous  to  the  peace 
and  safety  of  the  state.  We  can  look  upon  our 
Catholic  fellow-citizens  with  the  same  friendly  feeling 
that  we  look  upon  other  denominations;  tliey  are 
Americanized,  and  partake  of  the  spirit  of  our  social 
system  with  its  mutual  concessions  and  compromises ; 
we  can  extend  to  the  Hierarchy,  very  few  of  whom 
are  really  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  all  of 
whom  owe  special  and  higher  allegiance  to  the  Pope, 
than  they  owe  to  this  country,  the  same  toleration 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  105 

we  extend  to  others.  Our  national  —  our  Christian 
duty,  forbids  the  extension  of  that  toleration  one 
point  beyond  where  the  interests  of  the  country  and 
of  Christianity  require  us  to  stop. 

If  we  have  succeeded  in  conveying  to  our  readers, 
our  own  conviction  of  what  is  due  to  the  present  and 
coming  generations  of  children  in  our  republics,  of 
the  civil  and  rehgious  obligations  which  will  rest 
upon  these  children  when  they  arrive  at  maturity, 
and  of  the  facilities  for  doing  good  then  to  be  enjoyed, 
they  cannot  fail  to  see  that  the  church  or  denomina- 
tion, which  opposes  religious  instruction  in  the  public 
schools,  is  at  war  with  our  institutions,  with  our  civili- 
zation, and  with  the  public  peace  and  safety.  That 
Bible,  upon  which  the  largest  portion  of  the  judicial 
oaths  of  the  United  States  are  administered,  that 
Bible,  which  is  the  fountain  of  our  Christianity,  and 
which  our  whole  system,  civil  and  religious,  assumes 
to  be  the  Word  of  God,  is  the  Bible  which  should  be 
held  up  to  the  children  in  our  public  schools,  an- 
nounced to  be  a  Revelation  from  the  Most  High,  the 
will  of  God,  the  Old  and  New  Testament  of  Chris- 
tianity. It  should  be  taught  to  the  children  to  that 
extent,  and  in  that  way,  which  an  enlightened  and 
liberal  piety  would  dictate. 

The  Bible  is  not  a  sectarian  book  in  the  eyes  of 
Protestants,  all  their  differences  arise  in  its  interpre- 
tation ;  it  is  not  sectarian  in  the  estimation  of  that 
Christianity  which  is  an  element  of  our  national  and 
social  and  legal  systems.  There  must  be  a  knowledge 
of  the  contents  of  the  Bible  which  is  not  sectarian. 
Such  is  plainly  the  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  in  the  case  on  Girard's  Will,  above 


106  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

referred  to.  Justice  Story,  admitting  that  sectarian 
religious  instruction  cannot  be  given  in  Girard  College, 
proceeds  thus  :  "  Why  may  not  the  Bible,  and  espe- 
cially the  New  Testament,  without  note  or  comment, 
be  read  and  taught  as  a  divine  revelation,  in  the  Col- 
lege—  its  general  precepts  expounded,  its  evidences 
exjjlained,  and  its  glorious  principles  of  morality  incul- 
cated ?  What  is  there  to  prevent  a  work  not  sectarian 
upon  the  general  evidences  of  Christianity,  from  being 
read  and  taught  in  the  College  by  its  lay-teachers  ?" 

All  Protestants  unite  in  the  circulation  of  the  Bible 
without  note  or  comment,  because  in  their  view,  it 
contains  the  whole  message  of  salvation  to  men,  in  the 
hope  that  the  reading  of  God's  word  may  alone  lead 
men  to  consider  what  belongs  to  their  eternal  interests 
and  to  make  their  peace  with  Heaven.  No  de- 
nominational jealousy  is  exhibited  among  Protestants 
when  men  read  the  Bible  without  a  clerical  expositor 
at  their  side ;  neither  can  they  feel  an}^  when  it  is 
read  to,  or  by  the  children,  in  the  public  school ;  nor 
when  its  contents  are  explained  without  any  view  to 
those  special  theological  distinctions  which  mark  the 
lines  of  separation  between  Churches. 

The  Protestant  denominations  do  not  hold  that 
there  is  no  salvation  except  within  the  pale  of  some 
one  of  their  various  Churches ;  they  do  not  deny  that 
a  man  may  attain,  by  the  knowledge  of  the  Bible 
alone,  to  the  hope  of  a  happy  eternity,  although  he 
may  know  nothing  of  the  lines  of  demarcation  between 
the  various  Churches.  Without  undervaluing  theology 
or  denominational  distinctions,  which  bespeak  higher 
attainments  in,  or  minuter  knowledge  of  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  there  is  then  a  knowledge,  a  saving  knowledge, 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  107 

■whicli  may  not  partake  of  a  sectarian  cliaracter.  It 
is  in  this  very  simple  but  comprehensive  sense  that 
Christianity  is  the  rehgion  of  the  country,  that  it  is 
an  element  of  our  common  law,  that  it  speaks  in  the 
various  Constitutions  of  the  States,  declaring  religious 
liberty  and  securing  freedom  of  worship  and  the  rights 
of  conscience.  Whatever  value  denominations  may 
attach  to  their  exclusive  tenets,  and  whatever  force 
may  be  given  to  truth  from  their  respective  points  of 
view,  and  whatever  vigor  of  action  may  be  attainable 
by  such  special  associations  of  Christians  holding  the 
same  doctrines,  there  is  nevertheless  what  Judge 
Duncan  calls  a  "general  Christianity,"  derived  from 
the  Scriptures,  under  the  light  of  which  men  may  be 
saved.  All  truly  good  men  of  every  Church,  whilst 
they  look  upon  their  own  system  as  the  safest  and 
best,  yet  rejoice  as  much  over  the  sinner  who  repents 
with  a  knowledge  of  the  Bible  only,  as  if  he  repent 
with  the  aid  of  the  catechism  and  the  creed  and  clerical 
teaching.  How  unbecoming,  how  unchristian !  to 
sneer,  as  some  do,  at  any  form  of  Christianity  by 
whicli  men  may  be  saved;  to  scorn  the  only  form 
of  Christianity  which  the  free  circulation  of  the  Bible 
can  produce  among  those  who  have  no  access  to  de- 
nominational teaching. 

We  have  been  minute  upon  this  point,  to  bring 
out  more  clearly  the  distinction  between  our  Pro- 
testant, or  American  system  of  Christianity,  and  that 
avowed  by  the  Papal  Hierarchy.  It  is  of  vital  con- 
sequence to  our  political  system  that  this  distinction 
be  understood  and  its  bearings  comprehended.  The 
Papal  system  denies  that  men  can  be  saved  out  of  the 
pale  of  that  Church  ;  it  denies  the  principle  of  tolera- 


108  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

tion ;  it  acknowledges  no  other  Church ;  it  makes  no 
concession  nor  compromise ;  it  claims  to  have  an  in- 
fallible head,  in  the  Pope,  and  not  only  refuses  to 
accept  the  Bible  as  the  chief  expositor  of  Christianity, 
but  objects  to  its  circulation  and  perusal  among  its 
own  people,  and  strenuously  resists  its  introduction 
into  the  public  schools.  This  issue  between  the 
country  and  the  Papacy  has  long  since  been  made  up; 
it  should  long  since  have  been  decided.  The  hesita- 
tion and  the  ignorance  displayed  upon  this  question 
are  equally  disgraceful  to  us. 

Oar  republican  system  demands  intelligence,  with 
moral  and  religious  training,  to  fit  citizens  for  the  dis- 
charge of  their  responsible  duties ;  it  demands  an  open 
Bible,  a  "general  Christianity,"  freedom  of  opinion 
and  liberty  of  worship ;  it  demands  what  the  Papacy 
regards  and  denounces  as  heresies,  and  what  its  prin- 
ciples and  laws  require  it  to  punish  as  such  where  it 
has  the  power,  and  what  it  does  punish  as  such  where 
it  has  the  power.  We  cannot  avoid,  and  should  not 
postpone,  the  great  questions  now  pending  between 
our  national  system  and  the  Papacy.  The  latter  is  a 
positive,  active,  jDcrvading  s^-stem ;  if  we  retreat,  it 
pursues  and  occupies  our  position  ;  if  we  neglect  to  go 
forward,  it  blocks  our  way.  Ours  may  be  a  positive, 
pervading  system,  if  we  make  it  so.  We  have  not 
the  advantage  of  that  singleness  of  purpose  and  s^DCcial 
energy  which  belongs  to  the  action  of  a  single  body 
or  church ;  but  we  should  have  the  advantage  of 
larger  and  more  liberal  views,  greater  intelligence 
and  greater  moral  power,  from  acting  in  harmony 
witli  our  own  institutions,  if  our  various  Churches 
were  to  unite  their  wisdom  and  eneroies  for  national 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  109 

purposes,  as  they  might  do,  without  any  sacrifice  of 
denominational  usefuhiess  or  success. 

Our  American  system  requires  the  contents  of  the 
Bible  to  be  taught  in  the  public  schools,  for  the  reason 
that  Christianity  is  an  element  of  our  political  system, 
and  the  Bible  is  the  source  of  Christianity.  The  Papal 
system  rejects  the  Bible  and  its  teachings  from  the 
public  schools,  because  the  Bible  endangers  their  reli- 
gious system.  Shall  we  carry  out  our  system,  or 
yield  and  permit  the  Hierarchy  to  carry  out  theirs  ? 
Upon  this  subject  the  whole  people  of  this  country 
is  arrayed  against  the  Papal  Church.  If  we  yield 
this  point,  we  surrender  the  principle  of  toleration 
and  the  right  of  private  judgment,  and  virtually 
violate  a  provision  contained  in  the  Constitution  of 
nearly  every  State  in  the  Union  —  that  there  shall 
be  no  preference  given  to  any  church  or  denomination ; 
for,  by  excluding  the  Bible  from  the  school,  at  the 
histance  of  the  Papacy,  we  give  the  Papal  Church  a 
direct  preference,  by  adopting  its  system  and  rejecting 
our  own. 

If  we  construe  the  rights  of  conscience  in  that  un- 
limited sense  which  some  think  the  term  implies,  the 
Papal  system  wdll  alone  sever  every  bond  of  union — 
every  obligation  of  our  governments  and  Constitu- 
tions, civil  and  religious.  Christianity,  as  incorpo- 
rated into  our  American  system,  regards  the  Bible  as 
the  only  revelation  of  God's  will,  and  the  only  mes- 
sage of  eternal  lifcj  our  laws  recognize  no  other 
Christianity  than  that  of  the  Bible ;  the  Papal  Church 
professes  to  be  of  equal  authority  with  the  Bible, 
which  it  regards  as  only  a  portion  of  the  direct 
teaching  of  God ;  the  Papacy  claims  now,  and  at  all 


110  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

times,  to  be  the  hand  and  the  voice  of  God  upon  the 
earth.  Our  American  system  not  only  permits,  but 
secures  the  right  of  all  men  to  worship  God  as  they 
severally  prefer ;  and  this  is  the  American  idea  of  the 
right  of  conscience.  The  Papacy  pronounces  this  to 
be  the  right  of  heresy,  as  directly  in  opposition  to 
their  religious  system,  and  to  their  rights  of  con- 
science. These  contradictions  cannot  be  reconciled. 
Our  American  system  refers  all  questions  of  authority 
to  the  people,  as  the  fountain  of  all  our  political 
power ;  the  Papal  system  refers  all  questions  of  power 
ultimately  to  the  Church,  or  its  infallible  head,  by 
which  it  professes  to  decide  upon  the  validity  of  every 
power,  and  upon  the  validity  of  every  exercise  of 
authority.  According  to  the  Papal  interpretation  of 
the  right  of  conscience,  it  is  the  right  to  carry  out 
their  religious  system  in  all  its  parts,  one  chief  part 
of  which  is  to  recognize  no  other  Church,  and  permit 
no  other,  for  the  very  good  reason,  in  their  view,  that 
no  soul  can  be  saved  in  any  other.  Christianity,  as 
incorporated  in  our  institutions,  involves  rights  of  con- 
science also,  and  these  involve  conscientious  obliga- 
tions to  sustain  and  carry  out  the  only  system  which 
gives  and  secures  religious  freedom. 

The  question  then  recurs,  shall  the  advocates  of 
religious  freedom  in  the  United  States  insist  upon 
their  rights  of  conscience,  or  shall  they  3'ield  and 
allow  the  Papal  right  of  conscience  to  prevail  ?  We 
know  that  many  entertain  the  view  which  it  is  one 
of  our  chief  objects  to  controvert,  that  there  is 
no  particle  of  Christianity  in  our  political  system, 
and  that,  therefore,  the  right  of  conscience  does  not 
permit  us  to  advance  positive   claims  in  behalf  of 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  Ill 

Christianity,  but  only  requires  us  not  to  do  any  thing 
in  the  name  of  Christianity  to  which  any  one  objects 
on  the  score  of  conscience.  Our  system  is  no  such 
absurdity  as  to  be  reducible  to  zero  by  the  conflicting 
pretensions  of  either  Papal  or  infidel  objectors ;  it 
is  a  grand,  original,  expansive,  and  positive  system 
of  Christian  toleration,  with  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
We  are  religiously  bound  to  maintain  it  at  every 
hazard.  We  cannot  retreat  and  leave  a  territory 
occupied  by  neither  party ;  we  must  not  proclaim  this 
nation  to  be  Godless ;  we  cannot  say  this  is  no  longer 
a  Christian  nation ;  besides,  whatever  inch  of  ground 
w^e  yield  will  be  at  once  in  Papal  possession.  Their 
claim  already  covers  all :  when  we  retreat,  they  are 
in  possession.  When  their  power  is  great  enough  to 
enforce  their  doctrines,  toleration  and  religious  liberty 
and  rights  of  conscience  are  at  an  end.  The 
Papacy  tenders  no  consoling  substitute ;  not  even  a 
modification,  or  amendment,  or  counterpart  of  our 
American  system,  civil  or  religious,  but  simj^ly  the 
Papal  System,  of  which  the  world  has  had,  and  is  now 
having,  such  experience  as  can  leave  us  in  no  doubt 
of  its  qualities. 

In  one  view  there  is  no  discrepancy  between  the 
Catholic  religion  and  the  Christianity  of  the  United 
States.  The  laity  of  that  church  can  enjoy  their 
rights  of  conscience,  and  liberty  of  worshiji,  in  perfect 
harmony  with  other  Christians.  It  is  witli  the  Eccle- 
siastical government  of  that  Church  that  the  difficulty 
began,  and  that  government  is  wholly  in  the  hands 
of  Ecclesiastics ;  their  people  have  no  authority  nor 
function  in  the  government  of  their  church.  There 
is,  then,  no  obstacle  in  the  way  of  Catholic  piety  or 


112  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

Catholic  worship ;  it  is  the  law  of  the  Romish  Eccle- 
siastical government  which  is  at  absolute  war  with 
our  whole  system,  civil  and  religious.  At  present, 
our  system  is  the  strongest  and  ought  to  be  carried 
faithfully  into  effect  as  the  only  means  of  preventing 
theirs  from  becoming  the  strongest,  for  when  it  does 
become  the  strongest,  it  will  he  enforced.  Our  delicacy 
forbids  us  to  enforce  our  rights ;  their  doctrine  and 
duty  commands  them  to  enforce  their  system.  But 
this  is  not  the  chief  reason  why  ours  should  be  carried 
into  effect;  if  the  Christian  element  be  withdrawn, 
or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  if  it  is  not  taught,  our 
social  system  has  no  bond ;  it  becomes  subject  to  the 
very  reproaches  which  the  Papacy  fling  at  us,  that  we 
are  verging  to  Paganism,  that  we  have  no  unity,  that 
we  have  no  common  faith.  This  will,  indeed,  be  our 
case  if  we  yield  before  the  rights  of  conscience  asserted 
by  others  without  setting  up  and  maintaining  our 
own  —  if  our  devotion  to  religion  is  in  going  back- 
ward, and  not  in  pressing  forward ;  if  we  restrict  our- 
selves to  punishing  men  for  blasphemy,  for  offences 
against  good  morals,  for  vilifying  Christianity,  and 
take  no  note  of  the  spirit  of  a  whole  Priesthood  which 
dooms  every  man  professing  this  religion,  which  our 
law  protects,  to  eternal  damnation ;  which  pronounces 
the  Protestants  of  the  United  States,  constituting 
nine-tenths  of  the  inhabitants,  heretics  and  schis- 
matics, undeserving  even  of  Christian  burial.  The 
law  of  Christian  toleration  requires  us,  and  Christian 
charitj^  requires  us,  to  give  these  men  a  home  among 
us ;  but  they  do  not  require  us  to  shut  our  ej-es  to 
these  facts ;  they  do  not  require  us  to  omit  the  vindi- 
cation and  teaching  of  that  Christianity  which  is  the 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  113 

basis  of  our  whole  civil  and  religious  system.  If  we 
may  punish  a  man  for  vilifying  Christianity — our 
Christianity — should  we  not  regard  that  as  an  offence 
in  the  Hierarchy,  when  they  proclaim  that  ours  is  no 
Christianity  at  all,  and  that  no  soul  can,  by  any  pos- 
sibility, be  saved  by  it  ?  Which  should  be  the  most 
offensive  in  our  view,  the  miserable  blasphemy,  or  the 
priestly  denunciation  ? 

We  do  not  make  such  remarks  to  raise  a  clamor 
against  the  Romish  Priesthood,  or  to  call  down  upon 
them  popular  vengeance.  Heaven  forbid !  Every 
attack  upon  the  property  and  lives  of  Catholics  dis- 
graces and  violates  our  system,  and  strengthens  theirs. 
Let  them  have  toleration  and  liberty  of  worship,  with 
all  the  civil  rights  we  have  to  give ;  that  is  our  com- 
pact :  but  let  us  be  true  to  ourselves  and  to  the 
world  —  true  to  God ;  let  us  uphold  and  assert  that 
Ghristianiti/  ivliicli  teaches  toleration,  and  secwes  liberty 
of  worship.  And  if  we  have  in  the  midst  of  us  a 
powerful  and  ambitious  band  of  Ecclesiastics,  who 
condemn  the  system  which  is  our  boast,  and  regard 
ours  as  no  Christianity ;  who  would  put  an  end  to 
religious  freedom  and  the  right  of  private  judgment, 
let  us  meet  this  formidable  enemy  only  by  a  more 
firm  and  constant  vindication  of  that  religious  system 
which  we  regard  as  the  safest  for  all  men,  as  well 
Catholics  as  Protestants,  and  which,  at  any  rate,  is 
indispensable  to  the  continuance  of  our  national 
institutions. 

Let  not  our  friends  become  more  dangerous  than 
our  enemies.  Let  us  not  betray  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity, for  upon  it  depends  the  validity  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  religious  toleration,  the  rights  of  conscience, 


114  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

the  right  of  private  judgment,  and  liberty  of  worship. 
If  we  have  no  punishment  for  a  s^^stem  which  denies 
all  these  princijDles  —  and  we  need  none,  for  these 
principles  imply  none — let  us  at  least  more  faithfully 
and  vigorously  propagate  that  new  system  of  Chris- 
tianity from  which  these  principles  spring,  and  over- 
come our  enemy  by  heaping  coals  of  fire  upon  his 
head/^ 


SECTION"  xm. 

The  Policy  of  Public  Schools  adopted  in  the  United  States.  — The 
necessity  of  Religious  Instruction.  —  Denominational  difficulties. — 
The  Nature  of  the  Religious  Instruction  to  be  given  in  them. 

Public  Schools  are  already  the  policy  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States.  More  than  two-thirds  of  the 
States  have  already  such  schools  in  operation.  Con- 
gress has  provided  an  ample  fund  for  their  sustenance 
in  all  the  States  in  which  there  is  public  land.  Ame- 
rican schools  are  spoken  of  throughout  the  world, 
where  there  is  question  of  public  education,  as  among 
the  best  in  existence.  The  adoption  of  this  system 
of  public  education  by  the  governments  of  so  many 
States,  and  the  liberal  provision  made  by  Congress, 
indicate  that  the  sentiments  of  the  people  in  those 
States  are  favorable  to  the  system.  We  run  no  risk 
in  saying  that  the  intelligent  and  evangelical  portion 
of  the  people  have  brought  about  this  decision.  In 
point  of  fact,  it  is  well  known  that  these  have  been 
the  active  friends  of  the  public  school  system.     The 

*  See  Appendix  A. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  115 

people  are  committed  to  it;  their  chief  duty,  after 
adopting  it,  is  to  make  it  efficient,  and  to  make  it 
adequate.  It  is  well  known  that  these  schools  have 
been  improving  in  every  State,  and  that  they  are  the 
subject  of  anxious  attention  and  effort  on  the  part  of 
the  various  public  authorities  and  Legislatures  of  the 
States  in  which  they  are  in  operation. 

Whilst  the  sentiment  of  the  country  has  been  in 
favor  of  public  schools  offering  the  advantage  of  the 
same  education  to  all,  it  has    also  frequently  been 
clearly  expressed  in  various  ways,  in  favor  of  reli- 
gious instruction  in  these  schools ;  but  this  has  not 
been  carried  out  as  generally  and  as  firmly  as  its  im- 
portance demanded.     Another  obstacle  kept  in  the 
back-ground,  has  had  its  influence  in  retarding  the 
adjustment  of  this  subject  of  religious  education  in 
the  public  schools.     A  considerable  number  of  good 
people,  in  every  denomination  of  Christians,  are  afraid 
to  countenance  any  religious  instruction  which  is  not 
denominational.     They  hold,  that  the  distinctive  fea- 
tures of  their  several  churches,  should  be  so  early 
graven  upon  the  tender  minds  of  the  children,  as  to 
be   ever   after   ineffaceable.     If  their  doctrines    are 
sound,  and  they  only  adhere  to  them  because  they 
regard  them  as  sound,  they  cannot  be  too  early,  nor 
too  effectually,  as  they  contend,  impressed  upon  the 
minds  of  the  children.     They  perceive  the  difficulty 
as  among  themselves,  of  carrying  out  such  views  in 
the  public  schools,  and  they  stand   aloof  from  the 
question  of  public  religious  instruction.     They  desire 
to  see  children  religiously  educated,  and   earnestly 
insist  upon  it,  but  between  their  devotion  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  Christian  toleration,  which  they  are  afraid  of 


116  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

violating,  and  their  devotion  to  doctrinal  distinctions, 
they  stand  paralyzed,  and  permit  truth  to  be  sacri- 
ficed, and  the  public  interests  to  suffer,  and  children 
to  go  without  religious  instruction. 

We  think  that  all  these  difficulties,  great  as  they 
appear,  in  a  cause  involving  so  many  considerations 
vital  to  the  welfare  of  our  whole  country,  and  indeed 
of  the  whole  human  family,  can  be  surmounted,  and 
should  be  surmounted.  The  sj^irit  of  concession, 
upon  which  our  institutions  are  founded,  is  not  yet 
exhausted;  it  is  just  as  necessary  in  the  progress  of 
our  history,  as  in  its  origin.  When,  as  a  people,  we 
cease  to  act  in  the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  they  will 
come  rapidly  to  an  end.  In  one  sense,  it  is  true  there 
can  be  no  compromise  in  religious  matters;  that 
which  is  vital  to  Christianity  cannot  be  surrendered, 
nor  even  kept  out  of  view.  The  Bible  cannot  be  sa- 
crificed, nor  kept  out  of  view,  to  conciliate  prejudices 
of  any,  whether  priest  or  infidel.  It  is  the  manual  of 
Christianity.  We  cannot  concede  that  the  Bible  is  a 
mere  human  production,  because  it  is  of  the  very 
essence  of  Christianity,  that  the  Bible  is  a  revelation 
from  God.  Christian  toleration,  however  liberal  it 
may  be,  assumes  and  reserves  these  truths ;  it  is  be- 
cause the  Bible  teaches  it,  that  toleration  exists.  He 
who  commands  us  to  love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves, 
countenances  no  intolerance,  but  releases  us  from  no 
portion  of  our  religious  duty.  When  we  come  to 
the  interpretation  of  the  Bible,  human  fallibility  in- 
tervenes, and  differences  arise.  We  would  not  under- 
value doctrinal  distinctions  and  denominational  dif- 
ferences: they  are  inevitable,  and  inseparable  from 
true  religious  liberty.     They  are,   therefore,  in  the 


IN     THE     UNITED     STATES.  117 

order  of  Providence,  and  it  is  easy  to  see,  that  many 
good  results  may  flow  from  them,  in  giving  variety 
and  energy  to  Christian  life,  and  in  promoting  a  spirit 
of  inquiry,  with  habits  of  deeper  thinking  and 
sharper  discrimination. 

But  these  higher  ultimate  attainments,  though  ne- 
cessary to  denominational  strength  and  success,  are 
not  indispensable  to  salvation ;  sound  theology  is  re- 
quisite to  those  who  make  any  progress  in  theology : 
it  is  necessary  for  those,  whose  taste  or  position  leads 
them  to  a  prolonged  study  of  the  Bible,  or  to  deep 
study  in  religious  subjects. 

How  large  a  majority  of  our  community,  and  of 
every  other  Christian  community,  stop  short  of  any 
jDrogress  in  theology,  or  any  prolonged  study  of  the 
Bible !  Happily  for  such,  though  ignorance  is  no 
excuse  in  our  land,  the  way  to  salvation  is  so  simple, 
that  he  that  runs  may  read,  and  "  wayfaring  men, 
though  fools,  shall  not  err  therein."  Upon  how  little 
theological  knowledge,  after  all,  throughout  the  mem- 
bership of  our  most  intelligent  churches,  is  the  faith 
and  hope  of  many  true  Christians  founded  !  Perhaps 
some  of  the  purest  and  humblest  Christians  in  the 
whole  country,  some,  whose  faith  is  the  most  immov- 
ably steadfast,  are  those  who  know  scarce  anything 
but  Christ,  and  Him  crucified.  It  was  not  among  the 
wise  and  learned,  that  Christ  found  his  first  and  most 
ardent  disciples,  and  it  is  evident,  that  the  compre- 
hension of  the  Apostles  themselves,  up  to  the  time 
of  the  resurrection  of  our  Lord,  was  very  limited  as 
to  many  of  the  truths  their  Master  had  inculcated 
upon  them.  It  is  still  true,  that  salvation  is  possible, 
and  not  unfrequent,  without  knowledge  of  theology 


118  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

as  a  science,  and  with  a  very  limited  knowledge  of 
the  contents  of  the  Bible  itself  j  it  is  still  true  and 
proper  to  say, "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
thou  shalt  he  saved,  and  thj  house,"  and  to  this  belief 
it  is  possible  some  might  attain,  whose  whole  religious 
instruction  has  been  confined  to  the  four  Evangelists. 
We  are  not  excusing  ignorance,  nor  pleading  for  it, 
nor  recommending  it.  We  desire  an  admission  of  the 
fact,  that  remission  of  sins  and  the  hope  of  a  happy 
eternity,  may  be  secured  even  by  tliose  whose  attain- 
ments are  thus  limited.  If  this  be  so,  there  is  a 
"general  Christianity"  in  which  men  may  be  saved, 
who  belong  to  no  particular  denomination,  and  are 
instructed  in  no  peculiar  tenets. 

We  are  aware,  that  earnest  and  well-informed  men 
of  the  various  churches,  regard  this  idea  of  general 
Christian  knowledge,  as  compared  with  their  special 
views,  with  a  sort  of  contempt,  if  not  of  abhorrence, 
though  they  not  unfrequently  seem  to  hope,  that  in- 
dividuals who  have  departed  this  life  with  no  other 
knowledge,  have  secured  their  eternal  peace.  We 
think  that  this  contempt  or  abhorrence,  though  natu- 
ral to  those  whose  whole  life  is  spent  in  defending 
and  teaching  peculiar  tenets,  is  highly  censurable,  if 
not  very  sinful.  Whilst  we  may,  and  should  do  all 
we  can  to  propagate  our  special  tenets,  if  we  believe 
them  to  be  most  sound,  we  should  be  none  the  less 
anxious  that  men  should  make  their  peace  with  God, 
even  without  embracing  the  minutia)  of  our  own 
creeds.  Whilst  we  strengthen  and  defend  our  own 
more  specific  and  narrow  platform,  and  induce  as 
many  as  we  can  to  come  upon  it,  we  must  neither 
frown  upon,  nor  discourage  those,  who  are  standing 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.         119 

upon  a  broader  platform,  whose  lines  are  less  specific, 
if  upon  that  they  can  make  their  peace  with  Heaven. 
The  simple  fact  that  Protestants  admit,  that  men  may 
be  saved  in  any  Christian  community  in  which  the 
essential  truths  of  Christianity  are  professed,  proves 
that  there  is  a  common  ground  on  which  all  might 
meet  if  they  would.  They  may  defend  their  peculiar 
views  with  all  the  pertinacity  which  they  believe  to 
be  due  to  truth,  but  they  should  prize  far  the  highest, 
those  truths  which  are  held  in  common  by  all  true 
Christians,  for  such  truths  must,  of  necessity,  be  vital 
and  important.  How  often,  and  alas !  how  much  in 
vain  are  Christians  exhorted  to  dwell  more  upon  the 
points  of  their  agreement,  and  less  upon  their  differ- 
ences! We  suffer  the  strictness  and  exclusiveness 
of  denominational  teaching  to  harden  our  hearts,'-'  and 
check  that  union  and  co-operation  of  different  churches, 
upon  which  depends  absolutely  the  success  of  many 
of  our  greatest  Christian  enterprises. 

'•'  I  must  say,  that  I  consider  it  infinitely  more  cha-- 
racteristic  of  the  religion  we  profess  —  the  religion  of 
peace  and  charity  —  that  instead  of  each  denomina- 
tion sitting  aloft  and  apart  on  its  own  hill,  and  frown- 
ing upon  each  other  from  their  respective  orbits,  they 
should  hold  kindly  and  mutual  converse,  and  see  each 
other  eye  to  eye,  while  they  will  discern  to  their 
mutual  astonishment,  if  not  how  thoroughly,  at  least 
how  substantially,  they  are  at  one.  Now  is  the  time 
to  rally  about  the  common  standard  of  all  that  is 
pure  and  vital  in  Protestanism."f  We  regard  the 
"  common  standard "  here  spoken  of,  as  denoting  the 

*  "  Is  Christ  divided  ?"  nothing  else,  is  the  reply  we  make, 
•j"  Dr.  Chalmers's  address  to  General  Assembly  of  1843. 


120  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

same  thing  which  Judge  Duncan  calls  "  general  Chris- 
tianity ;"  and  the  same  which  is  intended  by  Chief 
Justice  Kent,  and  the  same  which  dictates  toleration 
and  liberty  of  worship,  in  our  various  State  institu- 
tions. It  has  not  been  defined,  vindicated  and  pro- 
claimed, because  Christians  have  spent  their  strength 
upon  these  differences,  and  not  upon  their  agreement. 
The  question  then  returns,  shall  not  the  Chris- 
tianity of  the  broader  platform  by  which  men  may 
secure  remission  of  sins  and  peace  with  God,  this  gene- 
ral Christianity  which  Judges  Kent,  Duncan  and 
Story,  pronounce  to  be  part  of  the  common  law  of 
the  country,  this  "common  standard"  about  which 
Dr.  Chalmers  called  upon  his  countrymen  to  rally, 
this  beneficent  Christianity  which  speaks  toleration  in 
the  constitutions  of  our  States,  and  invites  men  of 
every  creed  and  clime  to  our  shores,  our  hospitality, 
and  our  protection,  that  Christianity  which  is  the 
basis  of  our  civilization,  the  fountain  of  our  morality, 
the  sanction  of  our  official  and  judicial  oaths,  that  re- 
ligion which  is  preached  by  Chaplains  to  our  various 
Legislative  bodies,  and  to  our  Army  and  Navy,  be 
taught  in  our  schools,  and  be  made  known  to  our  chil- 
dren ?  And  if  not,  shall  the  reason  be  given  that  we 
insist  more  strenuously  upon  the  points  of  difference, 
than  upon  the  points  of  agreement ;  that  we  are  more 
bent  upon  the  teaching  of  our  peculiarities,  than  upon 
the  teaching  of  our  essentials  ?  Shall  it  be  said,  to 
the  injury  of  Christianitj-,  that  we  prefer  to  have 
children  go  without  religious  instruction,  rather  than 
have  them  instructed  in  the  "common  standard?" 
This  spirit,  which  is  a  reproach  to  Christians,  is  fatally 
indulcred    at    this   moment    throuo;hout   this    coun- 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  121 

try ;  let  every  man  who  entertains  it,  examine  him- 
self anew,  to  see  whether  he  is  not  forgetting  Him, 
who  said,  "Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me, 
and  forbid  them  not."  This  voice  should  be  heard 
in  every  school  in  the  land,  as  it  repeats,  "  Suffer 
little  children  to  come  unto  me ;"  and  no  child  should 
grow  up  w^ithout  being  taught  from  whom  this  invita- 
tion comes  and  how  deeply  he  is  interested  in  it. 


SECTION  XIV. 

Professor  Stowe's  Report  on  Public  Schools,  made  to  the  Governor  of 
the  State  of  Ohio.     "Thoughts  on  Popular  Education." 

We  gladly  call  to  our  aid  a  witness  who  has  bestowed 
the  most  earnest  and  enlightened  attention  upon  this 
subject.  Professor  C.  E.  Stowe  was  appointed  by  the 
Governor  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  in  1836,  to  visit  the 
educational  institutions  of  Europe,  and  make  report 
of  such  matters  as  might  appear  to  him  worthy  of 
their  attention  in  Ohio.  In  speaking  of  the  system 
of  Prussia,  which,  in  his  opinion,  combined  more  ad- 
vantages than  any  other,  he  says,  among  other  things, 
"  In  regard  to  the  necessity  of  moral  instruction,  and 
the  beneficial  influence  of  the  Bible  in  schools,  I  in- 
quired of  all  classes  of  teachers  and  men,  of  every 
grade  of  religious  faith,  instructors  in  common  schools, 
high  schools  and  schools  of  art,  of  professors  in  col- 
leges, universities  and  professional  seminaries,  in  cities 
and  in  the  country,  in  places  where  there  was  a  uni- 


122  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

formity.  and  in  places  where  there  was  a  diversity  of 
creeds,  of  believers  and  unbelievers,  of  rationalists 
and  enthusiasts,  of  Catholics  and  of  Protestants ;  and 
I  never  found  but  one  reply,  and  that  was,  that  to 
leave  the  moral  faculty  uninstructed  was  to  leave  the 
most  important  power  of  the  human  mind  unde- 
veloped, and  to  strip  education  of  almost  every  thing 
that  can  make  it  valuable ;  and  that  the  Bible,  inde- 
pendently of  the  interest  attending  it,  as  containing 
the  most  ancient  and  influential  writings  ever  recorded 
by  human  hands,  and  comprising  the  religious  system 
of  almost  the  whole  of  the  civilized  world,  is  in  itself 
the  best  book  that  can  be  put  into  the  hands  of  chil- 
dren, to  interest,  to  exercise,  and  to  unfold  their  intel- 
lectual and  moral  powers.  Every  teacher  whom  I 
consulted,  repelled  with  indignation,  the  idea  that 
moral  instruction  is  not  proper  for  schools;  and 
spurned  with  contempt  the  allegation,  that  the  Bible 
cannot  be  introduced  into  common  schools  without 
encouraging  a  sectarian  bias  in  the  matter  of  teach- 
ing; an  indignation  and  contempt  which,  I  believe, 
will  be  participated  in  by  every  high-minded  teacher 
in  Christendom." 

After  describing  with  some  particularity,  the  mode 
of  religious  instruction  adopted,  which  embraced  a 
pretty  thorough  knowledge  of  the  great  moral  and 
religious  truths  of  the  Bible,  its  didactic  lessons,  and 
its  important  narratives;  the  Professor  remarks  of 
the  system,  that  "  Its  morality  pure  and  elevated,  its 
religion  entirely  removed  from  the  narrowness  of  sec- 
tarian bigotry,  what  parent  is  there,  loving  his  chil- 
dren, and  wishing  to  have  them  respected  and  haj^py, 
who  would  not  desire  that  they  should  be  educated 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  123 

under  such  a  kind  of  moral  and  religious  influence  as 
has  been  described  ?  Whether  a  believer  in  revela- 
tion or  not,  does  he  not  know  that  without  sound 
morals,  there  can  be  no  happiness,  and  that  there  is 
no  morality  like  the  morality  of  the  New  Testament? 
Does  he  not  know  that  without  religion,  the  human 
heart  can  never  be  at  rest,  and  that  there  is  no  reli- 
gion like  the  religion  of  the  Bible  ?  Every  well-in- 
formed man  knows,  that  as  a  general  fact,  it  is  im- 
possible to  impress  the  obligations  of  morality  w^ith 
any  efficiency  on  the  heart  of  a  child,  or  even  on  that 
of  an  adult,  without  an  appeal  to  some  mode  which 
is  sustained  by  the  authority  of  God ;  and  for  what 
code  will  it  be  possible  to  claim  this  authority,  if  not 
for  the  code  of  the  Bible  ?" 

To  very  special  inquiries  addressed  to  him  by  Pro- 
fessor Stow,  a  distinguished  Prussian  teacher  replied, 
"  In  Prussia,  we  have  tried  all  sorts  of  ways ;  by 
extracts,  by  new  translations,  by  commentaries  written 
expressly  for  schools ;  but,  after  all  these  trials,  there 
is  now  but  one  opinion  among  all  acquainted  with  the 
subject,  and  that  is,  that  the  whole  Bible,  just  as  it 
stands  in  the  translations  in  common  use,  should  be  a 
reading  and  recitation  book  in  all  the  schools." 

In  regard  to  the  relative  importance  of  public 
teaching  in  the  European  monarchies  and  our  re- 
publics, the  Professor  expresses  his  opinion  thus :  — 
"  Republicanism  can  be  maintained  only  by  universal 
intelligence  and  virtue  among  the  people,  and  disin- 
terestedness and  fidelity  in  the  rulers.  Republics  are 
considered  the  natural  foes  to  monarchies ;  and,  when 
both  start  up  side  by  side,  it  is  taken  for  granted  that 
one  must  supplant  the  other.     Hence  their  watchful 


124  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

jealousy  of  each  other.  Now.  when  we  see  monar- 
chies strengthening  themselves  hy  such  a  thorough 
system  of  education,  secular  and  religious,  as  that  we 
have  described,  are  not  republics  warned  to  consider 
whether  they  are  not  exposed  to  double  danger  from 
vice  and  neglected  education  ?  And  do  not  patriotism 
and  the  necessity  of  self-preservation  call  upon  us  to 
do  more  and  better  for  the  education  of  our  whole 
people  than  any  despotic  sovereign  can  do  for  his  ? 
Did  we  stand  alone — were  there  no  rival  governments 
on  earth  —  or  if  we  w^ere  surrounded  by  despotisms 
of  degraded  and  ignorant  slaves,  like  those  of  the 
ancient  Oriental  world  —  even  then,  without  intelli- 
gence and  religion  in  the  great  mass  of  the  people, 
our  liberties  would  soon  be  lost.  How  emphatically 
must  this  be  the  case  qioio,  when  the  whole  aspect  of 
things  is  changed,  and  monarchies  have  actually 
stolen  a  march  upon  republics  in  the  promotio]i  of 
sound  education  ?"  * 

From  "  Thoughts  on  Popular  Education  in  the 
United  States,"  by  a  citizen  of  Pennsylvania,  jDub- 
lished  in  1836,  we  take  the  following: — "Our  object 
has  been  to  show  that  all  the  children  in  our  land 
deserve  to  be  well  and  seasonably  educated  —  they 
have  a  right  to  expect  this  at  the  hands  of  the 
governments  under  which  they  live,  if  they  are  to  be 
held  responsible  for  the  discharge  of  duties  of  citizen- 
ship. No  man  can  escape  from  responsibility  in  this 
matter.     Under  such  institutions  as  ours,  we  stand 

*  Report  of  Professor  E.  C.  Stow,  to  the  General  Assembly  of 
Ohio,  on  "  Elementary  Public  Instruction  in  Europe,"  made  in  1837. 
Reprinted  by  order  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  in  1838. 
Pages  9,  19,  53,  64. 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  125 

too  near  to  be  indeiDendent  of  each  other,  or  to  be 
indifferent  to  each  other's  interests.  Not  a  chiki  can 
come  to  years  of  maturity,  uneducated,  without  harm 
to  us  —  to  you  —  to  the  whole  repubhc.  The  interest 
of  each  is  the  interest  of  all ;  and  hence  we  argue 
the  obvious  and  indispensable  duty  of  every  good 
man  in  the  land  to  look  narrowly  into  our  institutions 
of  public  education,  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest, 
and  do  his  full  share  of  the  labor  of  raising  them  to  a 
proper  elevation,  and  sustaining  them  there  upon  the 
pledge  of  fortune,  honor,  and  even  life  itself." '=' 


SECTIOISr  XV. 

The  responsibility  of  devising  and  carrying  out  the  Policy  of  Religious 
Education  in  American  Schools  lies  upon  Christians. 

The  policy  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  be- 
ing, then,  public  education  —  universal  education  — 
Cliristian  education — upon  whom  devolves  the  respon- 
sibility of  carrying  it  into  execution?  We  say  it 
devolves  upon  the  Christians  of  the  United  States. 
To  whom  else  do  multitudes,  especially  of  the  poor, 
look  for  the  religious  instruction  of  their  children? 
Let  the  myriads  of  children  in  our  Sunday  schools 
answer.  How  many,  who  neglect  all  religious  services 
themselves,  gladly  send  their  children  to  receive 
instruction  which  is  exclusively  religious?  Would 
these  people  object  to  having  their  children  instructed 

*  Frederick  A.  Packard. 


126  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

in  Christianity  in  the  public  schools  ?  Would  they 
not  readily  believe  that  the  same  religious  zeal  which 
sustained  Sunday  schools  would  be  directed  to  the 
object  of  Christian  instruction  in  the  public  schools, 
and  would  they  not  as  readily  approve  it  in  one  as 
the  other?  We  believe  the  peojDle  of  the  United 
States  are  quite  willing  to  entrust  the  religious  instruc- 
tion of  their  children  to  the  Christians  of  the  United 
States.  We  believe,  further,  that  the  duty  of  guiding, 
controlling,  and  enforcing  this  Christian  instruction  in 
•  our  public  schools,  is  one  of  the  most  important  reli- 
gious duties  incumbent  on  the  Christians  of  this 
country.  It  is  a  religious  duty  pressing  upon  Chris- 
tians, not  as  Episcopalians,  Methodists,  Baptists,  Con- 
gregationalists,  or  Presbyterians,  but  upon  them  as 
Christian  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

The  character  of  the  nation  as  a  Christian  country, 
is  not  derived  from  any  one  denomination  of  Chris- 
tians, but  from  all ;  not  from  any  feature  which  is 
peculiar  to  one,  but  from  those  great  characteristics 
which  distinguish  them  as  a  mass.  It  is  this  Chris- 
tianity which  is  common  to  the  prevailing  denomina- 
tions, which  is  to  be  communicated  to  and  impressed 
upon  the  children  of  the  United  States  in  the  public 
schools.  The  distinctive  features  of  each  denomina- 
tion will  grow  soon  enough  and  fast  enough  upon  that 
soil  which  is  common  to  all,  under  the  s^^ecial  instruc- 
tions of  the  family,  the  Sunday  school,  and  the 
Church ;  and  where  these  are  wanting,  as  to  a  very 
large  extent  they  are,  it  must  be  a  consoling  reflection 
to  all  true  Christians,  that  no  portion  of  the  children 
of  the  country  leave  the  public  schools,  without  being 
made  familiar  with  the  Bible  and  its  saving  truths. 


IN     THE    UNITED    STATES.  127 

If  Christians  here  do  not  choose  to  incur  the  respon- 
sibiHty  of  having  Christ  denied  to  the  children  in  the 
public  schools,  they  must  overcome  all  denominational 
reluctance  and  engage  heartily  in  this,  the  grandest 
duty  of  their  position  as  republican  Christians.  Can 
any  opportunity  of  preaching  the  gospel — ^of  making  ,..^,,.  .  -f^ 
known  the  way  of  life,  be  compared  with  that  which  % 

is  afforded  by  the  public  schools  of  the  United  States  ? 
And  when  we  take  into  account  the  power  which  soon  . 
devolves  upon  the  children,  can  any  teaching  be  more 
influential  than  that  which  is  aptly  bestowed  upon 
the  advancing  millions  of  our  children?  If,  then, 
there  is  no  legal,  no  constitutional  obstacle  in  the 
way  —  as  we  trust  we  have  shown  there  is  not  —  of 
maintaining  our  character  as  a  Christian  peojDle,  by 
teaching  Christianity  in  our  national  schools,  can  that 
denominational  feeling  which  keeps  Christians  from 
this  work  have  any  affinity  with  Christianity?  Can 
it  be  right  for  the  men  of  any  Church  to  say,  if  we 
cannot  clothe  the  children  with  our  uniform,  we  care 
not  for  their  being  clothed  at  all  ?  Is  it  Christian- 
like to  feed  no  lambs  but  those  of  our  own  fold,  when 
all  alike  are  His,  who  said,  "  Feed  my  lambs  ?"  Nor 
is  it  any  more  excusable  in  a  Church  to  withdraw 
wholly  her  countenance  and  co-oj)eration  from  this 
work,  in  a  vain  effort  to  give  a  strictly  denominational 
training  to  her  own  children.  The  narrowness  of  this 
view  stands  so  strongly  in  contrast  with  the  expansive 
scope  of  Christian  love,  that  it  needs  only  to  be  looked 
at  to  ensure  condemnation.  It  can  have  its  counter- 
part only,  in  the  determination  of  the  missionary  to 
educate  his  own  children  and  leave  uncared  for  those 


128  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

of  the  heathen  around  him.  The  unchristian  aspect 
of  this  policy  is  not  its  only  unhappy  feature.  No  large 
denomination  of  Christians  can,  by  any  organization 
in  their  power,  accomplish  the  education  of  the  whole 
number  of  children  which  would  fall  to  their  share. 
They  could  not  probably  reach  more  than  a  fifth  of 
their  OAvn  children,  or  at  most  a  third.* 

The  remainder  of  the  denominational  lambs,  and 
those  especially  w^ho  were  children  of  the  poor,  must 
be  left  to  run  into  the  common  fold :  one  portion  of 
the  children  of  a  Church  being  .educated  upon  one 
sj^stem  and  the  residue  upon  another  system.  Now, 
if  all  received  in  the  public  schools  the  same  course 
of  religious  instruction,  each  Church  could  readily 
make  arrangements  to  furnish  to  its  own  children, 
upon  some  regular  system,  that  special  instruction 
deemed  by  it  to  be  essential  to  complete  the  course 
of  the  pu1)lic  schools. 

But  if  every  separate  denomination  could  reach  the 
children  of  all  its  congregations  and  furnish  them  a 
good  religious  education,  a  vast  multitude,  exceeding 
probably  two  millions  of  children,  would  remain 
untaught,  or  taught  in  public  schools  over  which,  if 
they  did  not  dwindle  into  utter  inefficiency,  little 
Christian  sympathy  would  watch  and  no  Christian 
wisdom  would  preside.  Whilst,  therefore,  we  would 
detract  nothing  from  what  can  be  done  in  the  family, 

*  The  Presbyterian  Church  has  made  efforts  for  several  years  to 
get  up  a  general  system  of  denominational  education,  with  only  about 
success  enough  to  show  the  utter  hopelessness  of  the  attempt.  The 
great  mass  of  their  own  people  cannot  be  reached  by  any  denomina- 
tion, however  vigorous  the  attempt.  — (^Appendix  B.) 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  129 

in  the  Sunday  school,  in  the  Church,  and  in  the 
numerous  vohnitary  schools  which  special  circum- 
stances and  feelings  must  ever  create,  we  again  aver 
that  the  great  work  of  educating  the  millions  remains 
to  be  accomplished  by  public  means  and  public 
authority.  And  if  a  knowledge  of  Christianity  is  to 
be  imparted  to  these  millions,  it  can  only  be  ade- 
quately done  by  the  united,  strenuous,  intelligent  and 
christian-like  efforts  of  the  chief  religious  denomina- 
tions of  the  whole  country.  To  stand  aloof  as  a 
Church  from  this  duty,  involves  a  serious  responsi- 
bility; to  stand  aloof  from  it  as  an  individual,  may 
involve  not  only  a  serious  but  a  fatal  responsibility. 
No  thoughtful  Christian  can  turn  his  back,  upon  the 
religious  welfare  of  the  millions  of  children  in  the 
schools  of  this  country,  without  hardening  his  heart 
and  denying  to  his  Christian  affections  and  graces 
their  proper  scope  and  exercise. 

We  believe  that  the  outward  manifestations  of  Chris- 
tianity do  not  keep  up  with  the  circumstances  of  the 
age  in  which  we  live,  nor  with  its  intelligence ;  and 
above  all,  they  do  not  correspond  to  the  opportunities 
and  privileges  of  the  land  in  which  we  live.  In  every 
age  since  the  Christian  era,  and  in  every  country, 
there  have  been  circumstances,  external  or  internal, 
in  the  condition  of  the  people,  which  have  prevented 
the  free  expansion  and  proper  growth  of  Christianity. 
Sometimes  it  has  been  a  defective  ecclesiastical  system, 
sometimes  the  repressive  character  of  the  temporal 
governments  and  the  superstition  or  improper  educa- 
tion of  the  people,  but  now  at  this  day  and  in  this 
country,  the  Christian  —  whether  statesman,  man  of 
9 


130  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

science  or  philosopher  —  may  look  in  what  direction 
and  pursue  what  line  of  inquiry,  religious  or  social, 
he  pleases,  when  he  is  considering  how  he  can  most 
promote  the  interests  of  Christianity  and  the  temporal 
well-being  of  his  fellow-men. 


SECTION  XVL 

Facilities  enjoyed  by  Christians.  —  The  doctrine  of  Christian  PhilaU' 
thropy.  —  Future  triumphs  of  Christianity,  where  to  be  found. 

At  this  day,  then,  and  in  this  country,  all  pressure 
being  taken  from  the  mind  and  all  undue  restraint 
being  removed  from  the  tongue  and  pen  —  a  favoring 
Providence  having  banished  all  obstacles  to  liberty  of 
worship  and  the  amelioration  of  human  condition  — 
we  might  hope  for  the  most  expansive  and  glorious 
exhibition  of  Christianity.  A  new  development  and 
a  more  rapid  growth  might  be  expected,  where  so 
much  light  is  shed  abroad  and  so  many  restrictions 
are  removed.  When  we  consider  the  summary  of 
Christian  duty,  given  by  our  Lord  Himself —  '•  Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart  and 
wdth  all  thy  soul  and  with  all  thy  mind,"  and  "  Thou 
shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself"  —  we  can  readily 
comprehend,  that  in  the  past  condition  of  Innnanit}^, 
the  development  of  Christianity  should  rather  be  upon 
the  first  and  great  commandment  than  upon  the 
second,  which  is  like  unto  it.  These  commands  being 
fundamental  principles,  any  system  built  upon  either 


ap^'" 


IN  THE  UNITED  STATES.         131 

must  prove  defective,  as  embracing  one  element  when 
two  were  necessary.  The  obstacles  to  the  expansion 
of  Christian  doctrine  and  the  performance  of  Christian 
duty,  lay  chiefly  in  the  way  of  the  fulfilment  of  the 
second  command.  God,  who  is  a  spirit,  and  is  not  to 
be  worshipped  in  this  mountain  or  in  that,  nor  yet  at 
Jerusalem,  could  be  worshipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth 
in  any  circumstances  and  in  every  place ;  because  this 
devotion  could  ascend  from  palace  or  from  prison,  and 
no  human  agency  could  wholly  repress  or  stifle  it. 
There  has  been,  however,  in  all  ages  of  Christianity, 
independent  of  the  external  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
a  proper  fulfilment  of  the  second  great  commandment, 
a  strong  tendency  to  let  religion  run  chiefly  in  the 
channel  of  the  public  service  of  God.  We  see  this  in 
grand  and  imposing  rituals,  in  gorgeous  Churches, 
in  monkish  seclusion  on  the  one  hand  and  in  eccle- 
siastical magnificence  on  the  other;  we  see  many 
similar  tendencies  in  the  midst  of  Protestantism,  Ijut 
more  especially  in  the  vast  fabric  of  theological 
science,  the  erection  of  which  continues  in  our  day. 

In  Papal  countries  the  chief  development  of  Chris- 
tianity under  this  commandment  to  love  our  neighbor, 
was  in  the  way  of  alms-giving  \  under  Protestant  rule 
it  has  been  directed  chiefly  to  the  conversion  of  men, 
and  to  their  spiritual  welfare.  It  is  now  beginning  ,^{.u 
to  be  understood,  that  mere  alms-giving  cannot  be  an 
adequate  fulfilment  of  the  love  and  duty  we  owe  to 
our  neighbor,  not  only  because  we  owe  this  love  and 
duty  to  those  who  do  not  require  alms,  but  because 
that  view  does  not  cover  the  ground  of  our  obligation ; 
it  is  also  plainly  seen  that  mere  efforts  for  the  conver- 
sion of  men,  and  for  their  spiritual  welflire,  however 


132  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

zealous  and  praiseworthy,  do  not  comply  with  the 
whole  scope  and  requirements  of  the  command  to 
love  our  neighbor  as  ourselves. 

Protestants  have  failed  hitherto  in  giving  Chris- 
tianity its  due  expansion  on  the  side  of  philanthropy. 
No  injunctions  of  the  Bible  are  more  urgent,  and  none 
are  more  frequently  repeated,  than  those  which  relate 
to  the  duty  of  kindness  to  our  fellow-men ;  t]ie  ex- 
ample of  our  Saviour,  and  his  earnest  exhortation  to 
this  duty,  leave  no  room  to  evade  the  truth  that  hu- 
manity itself,  in  its  broadest  acceptation,  is  an  essen- 
tial and  indispensable  feature  of  Christianity^  All 
religion  is  a  mockery  of  God,  if  it  does  not  include,  in 
its  scope  and  teaching,  the  well-being  of  men  in  this 
world,  as  well  as  the  salvation  of  men  in  the  world  to 
come.  Whatever  advantage  we  seek  for  ourselves, 
whether  it  be  of  food  or  raiment,  or  good  government 
or  good  education,  w^e  must  be  willing  to  impart  to 
others  according  to  our  ability  and  opportunity.  To 
be  an  intelligent  Christian  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  involves  a  consideration  of  every  subject 
which  concerns  human  advantage  in  this  world,  as 
well  as  what  concerns  the  interests  of  men  in  the 
eternal  world.  By  nothing  less  than  this  wide  sweep 
of  observation,  can  Christian  men  determine  what  is 
best  for  themselves,  and  best  for  their  fellow-men; 
and  by  nothing  less  can  their  obligations  be  dis- 
charged. Where  then  we  may  again  ask,  for  we  have 
asked  this  question  before,  shall  we  find  adequately 
developed  the  doctrine  of  Christian  philanthropy? 
Where  is  the  due  application  of  Christianity  to  poli- 
tical economy  to  be  found  ?  Where  the  full  bearing 
of  Christianity  upon  social  philosophy  ?     We  believe 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  133 

there  is  here  then  a  whole  department  of  Christian 
literature  almost  untouched,  and  certainly  not  begun 
to  be  elaborated  as  it  deserves,  and  as  the  wants  of 
the  age  urgently  demand.  The  subject  of  Christian 
education  in  the  public  schools  would,  of  course,  fall 
within  the  scope  of  this  elaboration  of  the  social  duties 
devolving  upon  citizens  who  are  free  to  carry  out  the 
principles  they  profess.  In  that  path  of  inquiry  with 
the  light  of  Divine  Revelation  upon  every  step,  it 
would  be  very  clearly  seen  what  the  Christian  citizens 
of  the  United  States  owe  to  the  children  of  the 
United  States.  In  the  proportion  that  Christianity 
is  important  to  the  temporal  and  eternal  interests  of 
these  cliildren,  in  that  proportion  is  the  obligation  of 
those  wdio  have  the  power  to  impart  it  to  them ;  in 
proportion  as  the  fulfilment  of  this  obligation  is  im- 
portant to  our  national  and  State  institutions,  and 
through  them  to  the  cause  of  good  government  and 
human  well-being  throughout  the  world,  in  that  pro- 
portion the  Christians  of  this  country  by  all  means 
not  inconsistent  with  our  great  law  of  toleration,  are 
under  obligation  to  imbue  the  rising  generation  with 
the  great  leading  truths  of  Christianity.  This  is,  per- 
haps, their  greatest  external  duty,  because  it  is  preg- 
nant with  the  richest  results  for  Christianity  and  for 
human  welfare  in  every  aspect. 

Hereafter  the  triumphs  of  Christianity  should  not 
be  found  or  looked  for  in  great  hierarchies,  or  powerful 
ecclesiastical  establishments,  in  grand  cathedrals,  in 
costly  churches,  in  expensive  and  splendid  rituals,  in 
church  blazonry,  or  even  in  denominational  vastness ; 
let  us  rather  look  for  these  triumphs,  though  the  lines 
of  differing  opinions  may  never  be  obliterated,  in  the 


134  THE    POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

united  efforts  of  Christians  rising  above  their  differ- 
ences, and  acting  upon  the  common  ground  of  their 
agreement,  for  the  common  good  of  the  whole  human 
family.  When  Christianity  takes  this  aspect,  and 
begins  to  work  in  this  channel,  the  whole  world 
will  soon  begin  to  admire ;  and  all  men  will  hasten 
to  worship  and  adore  Him  who  is  the  Author  of  such 
a  system.  Let  us  rather,  hereafter,  look  for  proofs 
of  the  spread  of  genuine  Christianity,  not  to  tall 
steeples  and  imposing  architectural  structures,  but  to 
the  visible  workings  of  sanctified  human  affections; 
which,  being  won  over  to  Christ,  are  being  exerted  in 
every  practicable  direction,  for  the  earthly  and  the 
heavenly  interests  of  all  that  human  family  for  which 
Christ  suffered.  Let  us  look  for  it  in  a  system  of  reli- 
gious training  for  the  young,  in  Sunday  schools  and 
in  public  schools,  which  shall  transcend  all  denomina- 
tional limits  as  far  as  it  surpasses  all  denominational 
power;  let  us  look  to  see  the  visible  influences  of  Chris- 
tianity in  every  government  where  Christians  can 
exercise  a  direct  or  indirect  control ;  let  us  hope  that 
these  influences  shall  be  so  visible  that  they  cannot  be 
mistaken  in  the  legislation  and  in  the  social  institu- 
tions of  every  Christian  nation ;  let  us  look  to  see  the 
amelioration  of  human  condition  spreading  co-exten- 
sively  with  the  love  and  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  that 
men  may  feel  the  warmth  of  Christian  love  in  their 
bodies,  while  its  light  penetrates  their  souls.  When 
Christianity  has  made  this  progress  towards  her  per- 
fect work,  the  rich  will  reaHze  more  clearly  that  they 
are  stewards  of  Christ ;  the  men  of  intellectual  power 
and  scientific  acquisitions  will  realize  better  that  they 
are  responsible  for  these  talents ;  the  masses  will  be 


IN    THE    UNITED    STATES.  135 

content,  under  such  a  system,  to  eat  tlieir  bread  in 
the  sweat  of  their  brows ;  the  poor  will  feel  assured 
that  they  are  the  chosen  objects  of  Christian  care, 
and  the  whole  community  will  feel  that  one  of  the 
most  pressing  duties  which  rests  upon  them  is  to 
make  sure  that  the  laborer  is  not  only  hired,  but  that 
he  receives  a  full  reward  of  his  labor. 

All  this,  and  far  more,  is  within  the  scope  of  Chris- 
tian love,  acting  under,  and  within  the  political  institu- 
tions of  the  United  States.  All  this  mighty  machinery 
of  free  government  is  but  a  combination  of  so  many 
implements  for  the  promotion  of  human  welfare, 
placed  under  Christian  influences,  if  not  actually  in 
Christian  hands.  The  Christian  men  of  this  country 
may  recoil  and  shrink  from  this  responsibility,  as 
unhappily  they  have  been  doing;  but  so  long  as  they 
occupy  their  present  position,  they  cannot  escape 
them.  It  devolves  upon  them  emphatically  to  main- 
tain and  improve  our  Constitutions,  our  laws,  our 
social  institutions ;  to  sustain  our  great  principles  of 
Christian  toleration  and  political  compromise;  to 
rectify  and  perfect  our  representative  system;  to 
purge  and  purify  our  elections ;  to  banish  corruption 
and  ignorance  from  our  Legislative  bodies,  and  fill 
them  with  wiser,  honester,  and  more  patriotic  men; 
to  difiuse  industry  and  secure  its  reward;  to  make 
Christian  provision  for  the  poor;  and,  finally,  to 
devise  and  carry  out  that  constantly-improving  system 
of  education  by  Sunday  schools  and  public  schools 
for  the  whole  mass  of  our  youth,  which  will  fit  them 
for  the  increasing  responsibilities  of  those  who  are 
hereafter  to  determine  the  policy,  and  wield  the  des- 
tinies, of  our  constellation  of  republics. 


APPENDIX  A. 

Unwilling  to  distract  the  reader's  attention  by  a  longer  digres- 
sion on  the  Papacy,  we  resort  for  this  purpose  to  the  Appendix.  Every 
man  of  letters,  if  not  every  man  of  reading,  knows  something  of 
the  Reverend  Orestes  A.  Brownson,  now  simple  0.  A.  Brownson, 
LL.D.  His  writings  long  since  attracted  our  attention,  for  the  sym- 
pathy displayed  in  them  for  the  laboring  classes.  He  has  long  en- 
joyed high  repute  as  a  scholar,  and  a  man  of  ability.  For  a  time  he 
was  charged  with  want  of  firmness  of  purpose  and  steadiness  in  bis 
religious  views.  He  has  redeemed  his  character  in  that  respect,  for 
after  changing  his  creed  several  times,  he  took  refuge  from  his  sea 
of  doubts  and  turmoil  of  uncertainties,  in  the  bosom  of  the  Holy 
Roman  Church,  where  he  has  been  a  fixture  for  some  ten  years.  He 
possesses  a  high  order  of  talent,  but  it  consists  chiefly  in  logical 
power.  He  grasps  rapidly  and  firmly  the  relations  of  principles  and 
ideas;  his  perceptions  of  these  relations  are  clear,  and  his  mode  of 
expression  is  so  transparent,  that  he  can  seldom  be  misunderstood. 
His  attainments  are  large  and  varied;  his  memory  is  well  stored  with 
systems  of  faith  and  philosophy.  His,  however,  is  not  the  spirit  nor 
the  mind  to  grapple  with  the  stern  and  ever-changing  realities  of  this 
life.  He  does  not  like  facts,  they  are  too  complicated  and  too  stub- 
born for  him,  he  can  neither  arrange  nor  manage  them ;  he  can  nei- 
ther detect  nor  expose  their  bearings  nor  relations.  He  does  not 
judge  the  world  nor  its  inhabitants  by  what  it  exhibits  or  what  they 
do  in  any  detail.  One  or  two  great  facts  at  most  are  enough  for  his 
purpose,  whilst  he  can  swallow  or  emit  any  quantity  of  specula- 
tion. "What  his  mind  most  craves  is  food  for  logic.  The  faith  of 
Archimedes  in  the  power  of  the  lever,  was  not  greater  than  that  of 
0.  A.  Brownson  in  the  power  of  logic.  His  good  fortune,  however, 
far  exceeds  that  of  the  Syracusan  mathematician,  for  the  latter  never 
found  a  place  for  his  fulcrum,  whilst  the  logician  has  discovered  at 

(137) 


138  APPENDIX   A. 

length  an  illimitable  field  for  his  logic.  He  has  found  the  Papacy — 
the  Church  of  Rome,  "  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,  the  Church  of 
God,  the  Kingdom  of  Christ,  the  Immaculate  Spouse  of  the  Lamb, 
divinely  commissioned  and  supernaturally  assisted  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  to  teach  and  judge  the  law  of  God,"  "the  Church  a  king- 
dom, the  Kingdom  of  kingdoms,  and  Principality  of  principalities," 
God's  vice-gerent  on  earth  holding  the  keys  of  Heaven  and  Hell. 
Here  are  premises  enough  in  this  one  idea  of  the  Church,  to  satisfy 
the  mind  of  the  most  morbidly  gluttonous  logician  that  ever  wielded 
a  pen.  All  that  God  can  govern  on  earth,  the  Church  can  govern ; 
the  Church  is  supreme  in  spirituals,  but  as  men  must  do  all  they  do 
to  the  glory  of  God,  as  they  must  in  all  things  yield  implicit  obe- 
dience to  their  spiritual  superiors ;  therefore,  the  Church  must  take 
cognizance  of  all  that  is  done  under  the  sun.  The  Church  must,  in 
fact,  take  cognizance  of  all  questions  in  morals  and  in  politics,  be- 
cause there  is  no  other  infallible  guide  or  criterion.  The  sweep  of 
Mr.  Brownson's  logic  covers  the  whole  compass  of  God's  wisdom, 
and  the  whole  scope  of  his  government  on  earth,  for  these  are  embraced 
in  the  theocracy  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Church. 

Allow  Mr.  Brownson  this  one  stand-point  of  a  divinely  instituted 
Church  as  God's  vice-gerent  on  earth,  and  then  stand  clear,  or  he 
will  sweep  you  from  your  feet  and  carry  you  to  heights  and  depths, 
only  short,  to  use  his  own  strong  expression,  ''  of  nowhere."  There 
certainly  can  be  no  imaginable  thing  done  or  conceived  or  expressed 
in  this  world,  which  Mr.  Brownson  cannot,  from  his  point  of  view, 
prove  to  be  religiously,  temporally,  properly  and  mentally,  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Holy  Roman  Church.  If  you  attempt  by  any 
doubt,  or  caution  or  cavil  to  insinuate  an  objection,  he  will  prostrate 
you  as  a  profane  person,  an  infidel  denying  all  that  is  holy  and  pure 
and  divine  —  as  denying  God  himself  in  his  Immaculate  Spouse  the 
Church. 

With  ]Mr.  Brownson's  really  clear  perceptions,  with  his  skill  in 
logical  fence,  he  stands  impregnable  in  his  present  position ;  and 
considering  the  character  of  his  mind  we  see  no  way  of  dislodging 
him,  for  you  might  knock  him  heels  over  head  a  hundred  times,  and 
he  would  rise  each  time  with  not  another  idea  in  his  head  but  Holy 
Roman  Church.  We  see  no  method  of  meeting  him,  unless  some 
crafty  opponent  should  steal  near  enough  to  whisper  in  his  eai", ''  God 
is  great,  and  Mahomet  is  his  Prophet."     This  fruitful  idea,  in  its 


APPENDIX    A.  139 

simple  grandeur  might  be  a  sop  for  the  most  logical  giant,  or  a  tub 
for  the  hugest  whale.  For  exhaustless  as  is  his  present  theme,  he 
has  repeated  some  of  his  great  lines  of  argument  many  times.  On 
this  new  text  he  would  enjoy  not  only  as  wide  a  scope,  but  he  would 
be  without  a  rival,  past  or  present,  for  we  much  doubt  if  all  the 
Muftis  since  the  advent  of  Mahomet  have,  in  their  happiest  and  most 
ambitious  moments,  conceived  what  conclusions  the  logic  of  Mr. 
Brownson  could  draw  from  this  pregnant  phrase.  He  could  on 
that  simple  expression  build  up  a  literature  at  once  imposing,  grand 
and  comprehensive.  Indeed,  much  of  what  he  has  written,  would 
only  need  to  be  transferred  into  the  language  of  the  Turk  or  the 
Arab ;  for  whatever  may  be  predicated  of  the  Holy  Roman  Church 
as  in  God's  place  on  earth,  might  logically  be  predicated  of  Mahomet 
as  the  Prophet  of  Grod.  The  lack  of  infallibility  might  make  a 
sad  diiference,  for  though  there  is  scarcely  any  need,  that  is  a  strong- 
hold to  which  Mr.  Brownson  often  resorts,  rioting  as  he  does  in  his 
strength. 

If  Mr.  Brownson  cannot  be  coaxed  down  from  his  high  position, 
we  know  not  what  better  can  be  done,  than  to  let  him  run  his  course 
until  his  breath  fails  him.  No  knight  of  the  vizor  and  helmet  was 
ever  more  rampant,  more  confident,  or  more  proud ;  yet  more  dis- 
criminating than  he  of  La  Mancha,  who  would  fight  any  thing  on 
earth  from  a  ghost  to  a  wind-mill,  he  refuses  the  foemen  that  he 
deems  not  worthy  of  his  steel.  To  a  challenge  for  a  discussion  of 
the  points  between  Protestants  and  the  Hierarchy,  given  him  at  St. 
Louis  recently,  he  replied  : — 

"  I  could  not,  permit  me  to  say,  consent  to  meet  your  chosen 
champion,  in  the  way  you  propose,  without  in  some  measure  compro- 
mising the  rights  of  my  religion,  conceding  that  the  question  between 
Catholics  and  Protestants  is  a,  dehatahle  question^  and  granting  that 
Catholicity  and  Protestantism  in  some  sense  stand  on  the  same  level — 
a  concession  to  heresy  and  error,  and  an  indignity  to  truth,  of  which, 
I  trust  in  God,  I  shall  never  be  guilty."  * 

*  And  yet  Mr.  Brownson,  in  1845,  uttered  this  accusation:  "Protests 
autism,  afraid  to  meet  tlie  cliampions  of  the  Cross  in  fair  and  open  debate, 
conscious  of  her  weakness  and  unskilfulness  in  argument,  resorts  to  the 
civil  arm  to  maintain  her  predominance."  —  Broivnson's  Essays  and  Re- 
views,  441. 


140  APPENDIX    A. 

This  puts  an  end  to  this  troublesome  controversy  without  striking 
a  blow. 

There  is  another  point  of  view  from  which  the  Papal  career  of  Mr. 
Brownson  may  be  regarded.  Suspicious  individuals  have  entertained 
the  notion,  that  there  were  Jesuits  and  Priests  in  Protestant  guise, 
in  our  highest  places,  making  extraordinary  pretensions  of  Protestant 
zeal  and  orthodoxy.  We  have  never  heard  it  suggested,  that  in 
return  for  these  spies  in  our  camp  we  have  any  in  the  conclaves  of 
the  Hierarchy.  If  there  be  any  such,  we  might  on  strong  grounds 
claim  Mr.  Brownson  as  our  friend,  and  the  most  dangerous  foe  the 
Hierarchy  has  ever  encountered.  Until  his  advent  as  a  defender 
of  the  Papacy  and  an  expositor  of  its  claims,  a  prudent,  nay  cautious 
reserve,  was  rigidly  maintained.  It  seemed  that  the  Papacy  was 
really  becoming  Americanized ;  its  odious  features  and  inadmissible 
claims  were  kept  very  much  out  of  sight ;  it  appeared  as  if  the 
Hierarchy  were  planting  congregations  here  to  fraternize  as  Christians 
with  the  Protestants  around  them.  The  Catholic  people  of  this 
country  have  from  the  beginning  shown  this  tendency.  There  has 
been  no  religious  controversy  here  between  Catholic  people  and 
Protestant  people.  Intelligent  Protestants  knew  the  spirit  and 
ultimate  designs  of  the  Papacy,  but  the  mass  of  the  people,  Catholic 
and  Protestant,  entertained  no  suspicion  of  the  real  nature  and  objects 
of  the  Hierarchy. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  when  Mr.  Brownson  appeared  on  this 
stage.  He  changed  the  whole  system  of  Papal  tactics  in  this  country, 
abandoning  caution  and  throwing  reserve  to  the  winds.  Clothed  in 
the  whole  panoply  of  the  Hierarchy,  traditional,  doctrinal,  ritual, 
spiritual,  temporal,  he  goes  boldly  before  the  public,  announcing 
without  hesitation  and  without  disguise,  plans,  opinions  and  secrets 
hitherto  buried  deep  among  the  mysteries  of  the  priesthood.  He 
virtually  declares  to  the  Hierarchy,  if  you  hold  the  truth  be  not 
afraid  of  the  light ;  if  your  Church  is  all  it  purports  and  claims  to  be, 
it  cannot  be  known  too  soon ;  if  there  is  no  salvation  out  of  your 
pale,  let  us  call  and  force  all  men  into  it  with  the  least  delay  possible ; 
if  no  people,  no  government  is  safe,  in  any  other  than  Papal  hands, 
let  us  say  so,  that  people  may  know  it,  and  let  us  enter  upon  our 
dominion  as  soon  as  we  can.  Proceeding  on  these  principles,  he  has 
opened  up  the  councils  of  the  Hierarchy  with  a  boldness  only  to  be 
matched  by  the  disclosures  he  has  made.     No  man  in  this  country 


APPENDIX    A.  141 

need  now  be  ignorant  of  the  claims  or  of  the  nature  of  the  Papal 
Church.  It  is  saying  little  for  this  exposition,  that  it  surpasses 
any  thing  of  the  kind  in  the  English  language  for  clearness  and 
frankness.  There  it  is  in  Mr.  Brownson's  Review :  the  humblest 
reader  can  understand ',  let  those  whom  it  concerns  profit  by  it ! 

But  we  must  not  indulge  the  idea  that  this  exposition  of  Romanism 
is  not  the  work  of  a  sincere  and  an  earnest,  as  well  as  able  man. 
Educated  in  the  American  feeling  of  independence  and  openness,  he 
carried  these  qualities  into  the  Papal  Church.  He  soon  perceived 
they  were  hiding  their  light  under  a  bushel ;  he  brought  it  forth 
with  an  unfaltering  hand,  and  placed  it  on  a  candlestick.  He  an- 
nounced to  his  new  friends,  that  they  were  too  low  and  humble, 
living  far  below  their  privileges  and  position  ;  that  they  were  insen- 
sible to  their  present  respectability  and  future  destiny ;  that  they 
had  in  the  scheme  of  their  Church  a  power  which  nothing  could 
resist  —  a  power  embracing  all  terrestrial  concerns,  the  title  to  which 
was  indisputable,  it  being  only  a  matter  of  time  when  it  was  to 
come  into  full  exercise.  He  held  up  to  their  view  the  titles  to  this 
power,  couched  in  such  bold  and  commanding  terms  and  set  forth 
with  such  transcendent  ability,  that  he  carried  the  whole  Hierarchy 
with  him.  His  logical  ability  overcame  all  fear  of  consequences. 
They  saw  him  take  up  their  idea  of  the  Church  as  the  sole  agent  of 
God  on  the  earth,  and  wielding  it  right  and  left,  prostrate  every 
opposing  power,  spiritual  and  temporal  —  crushing  with  equal  ease 
republics  and  monarchies,  sects  and  systems,  literature  and  philosophy. 
With  such  a  champion  they  adventured  into  the  open  field ;  it  remains 
to  be  seen  with  what  result. 

The  time  is  coming,  and  may  not  be  very  remote,  when  the  pages 
of  Brownson's  Review  shall  be  called  as  chief  witnesses  against  the 
Hierarchy,  when  on  trial  at  the  bar  of  public  opinion,  for  treason 
against  the  institutions  of  this  country. 

The  Review  can  never  be  disowned  by  the  Papal  Priesthood,  for  it 
bears  on  its  cover  the  imprimatur  of  two  Arch-Bishops  and  twenty- 
three  Bishops  of  the  Romish  Church  in  the  United  States.  This  is 
dated  in  May,  1849,  at  which  time  the  character  of  the  Review  had 
fully  developed  itself;  and  after  the  Hierarchy  had  for  several  years 
watched  the  operation  of  the  bolder  policy  upon  which  their  neophyte 
had  adventured.  These  ecclesiastics,  knowing  all  this,  felt  "  the 
propriety  of  encouraging  him  by  their  approbation  and  influence,  to 


142  APPENDIX    A. 

continue  bis  literary  labors  in  defence  of  tbc  faitb  of  wbicb  be  bas 
proved  an  able  and  intrepid  advocate." 

But  tbis  is  not  all.  Mr.  Brownson's  name  and  works  bave  tra- 
velled to  tbe  Spiritual  Capital  of  tbe  world.  A  Papal  periodical,  tbe 
Corresjiondence  de  Rome,  gives  a  special  notice  of  tbis  Review.  It 
regards  tbe  approval  of  tbe  two  Arcbbisbops  and  twenty-tbree 
Bisbops  as  "  surpassing  all  eulogium."  It  notices  "  an  extraordinary 
dissertation  on  tbe  temporal  power  of  tbe  Cburcb.  We  frankly  con- 
fess tbat,  to  tbe  best  of  our  knowledge,  no  European  writer  bas  treated 
tbis  question  witb  more  freedom  and  ability." 

It  is  plain  tbat  tbe  Hierarcby  tbemselves  did  not  fully  appreciate 
tbe  value  of  tbat  vast  Spiritual  Corporation,  of  wbicb  tbey  are  tbe 
proprietors  and  managers,  until  tbe  magnifying  power  of  Mr.  Brown- 
son's  logic  was  brougbt  to  bear  upon  it.  Under  tbe  ligbt  of  tbat 
instrument,  it  continues  to  swell  in  size,  and  develop  in  power,  until 
all  tbe  world  may  soon  be  small  enougb,  in  comparison,  to  take 
refuge  under  its  sbadow. 

Tbere  is  abundant  evidence  in  tbe  pages  of  tbis  Review,  tbat  its 
tone  and  doctrines  are  far  from  being  so  satisfactory  to  tbe  Catbolic 
laity.  Some  of  tbese  will  be  seen  in  tbe  extracts  wbicb  are  to  follow. 
On  the  occasion  of  commencing  a  new  series  of  tbe  Review,  and  on 
tbe  last  page  of  tbe  number  for  January,  1853,  be  indulges  in  tbe 
following  remarks  and  retrospection :  — 

"We  bave  now,  going  on  nine  years,  conducted  tbis  journal  as  a 
Catholic  Review,  and  done  so  almost  single-banded.  We  bave  spoken 
freely,  frankly,  boldly,  we  would  hope  not  rashly,  on  all  topics  tbat 
have  come  up ;  and  our  aim  bas  been  to  encourage  a  free,  bold,  and 
manly  tone  in  our  Catbolic  literature ;  to  make  Catholics  feel  tbat 
they  are  at  home  in  this  country,  and  need  but  courage  in  avowing, 
and  fidelity  in  practising  their  religion,  to  malce  tlie  coinitry  Ca- 
tholic. .  .  .  That  we  bave  disturbed  many  prejudices,  trodden  on  a 
good  many  corns,  and  vexed  not  a  few  good  souls,  who  would  never 
have  Catholicity  speak  above  her  breath,  or  in  any  but  apologetic 
tones,  is  very  likely.  ...  As  long  as  we  can  secure  the  approbation, 
and  lose  not  tbe  confidence  of  tbe  jjastors  of  tbe  Church,  we  are 
content."  —  p.  136. 

But  wc  must  not  detain  the  reader  longer  from  the  following 
extracts  from  Mr.  Brownson's  Review.     We  bave  made  our  chief 


APPENDIX    A.  143 

citations  from  the  later  numbers,  supposing  these  to  contain  the 
best  and  most  concentrated  expression  of  the  writer's  views.  We 
have  made  them  longer  than  may  appear  needful,  but  we  feared  to 
do  injustice  by  cutting  them  shorter.  Long  as  they  are,  they  convey 
but  an  imperfect  presentation  of  the  Reviewer's  opinions,  and  very 
inadequate  evidence  of  his  ability.  We  heartily  commend  all  who 
feel  interested  in  the  subject  to  the  pages  of  the  Review,  in  which 
they  will  find  food  for  their  profoundest  reflections  for  many  a  day 
to  come. 

"  They  (the  Protestants)  cannot  open  our  Review  without  finding 
something  therein  which  shocks  their  sensibilities.  Eternal  damna- 
tion, with  all  its  attendant  and  unnameable  horrors,  is  forced  upon 
their  unwilling  attention,  as  a  thing  which  may  be  predicated  of 
them,  in  sensu  con?jwsi'to"  (as  a  fixed  fact),  "with  the  same  certainty 
which  enables  the  by-stander  to  say  of  a  man  who  has  swallowed 
deadly  poison,  and  who  will  not  eject  it,  that  he  will  surely  die."  — 
April,  1852,  p.  166. 

"  The  people  have  become  either  sovereign,  or  are  aspiring  after 
the  sovereignty,  and  one  sure  sign  that  this  new  sovereign  will  fall 
into  the  pit  into  which  kings  and  nobles  fell  is,  that  the  people  treat 
the  Church  as  the  kinfrs  and  nobles  treated  her.  Like  the  kings  and 
the  nobles  in  the  ages  of  their  revolt,  the  people  are  very  tolerant 
of  dead  creeds,  very  intolerant  of  living  Popes,  practical  Catholicity, 
and  thronged  confessionals.  In  speaking  of  the  interference  of 
ecclesiastics  with  secular  affairs,  as  they  call  it,  they  use  the  same 
proud  language  which  the  sovereigns,  their  predecessors,  the  kings 
and  nobles,  once  used.  Poor  people !  They  have  mounted  their 
tower,  they  have  fixed  their  throne  above  the  stars,  they  will  be  like 
the  Most  High  !  Poor  people  !  they  will  fall,  —  they  are  falling ; 
their  i<jnh  fatuus  has  led  them  to  the  precipice  over  which  royalty 
and  aristocracy  fell.  Ecclesiastical,  regal,  aristocratic,  popular  sove- 
reignty,— the  cycle  is  completed ;  will  it  begin  again,  or  are  we  near 
the  day  of  wrath  which  is  to  usher  in  the  visible  sovereignty  of  God 
over  all  flesh  that  has  corrupted  its  way?" — Ju^>/,  1852,  pp.  405-6. 

''  So  long  as  the  free  exercise  of  the  Catholic  religion  meets  with 
any  obstacles,  or  finds  any  let  or  hindrance  in  any  country,  however 
free  may  be  the  sects  or  unbelievers,  freedom  of  conscience  is  not 


144  APPENDIX    A. 

secured,  and   the   liberty  of  religion   is   not  recognized  and  main- 
tained."— Number  24,  October,  1852,  p.  445. 

"No  doubt,  Mr.  Bancroft  understands  by  religious  liberty,  not 
the  liberty  of  religion,  freedom  to  believe  what  religion  teaches  and 
to  practise  what  she  commands,  but  the  liberty  of  heresy  and  un- 
belief, the  liberty  to  deny  and  blaspheme  religion.  But  if  he  does, 
that  is  no  reason  why  we  should.  The  age  in  which  we  live  no 
doubt  agrees  with  him,  but  we  are  not  obliged  to  err  because  the  age 
errs.  TVe  do  not  consult  the  age  in  which  we  live  in  order  to  learn 
what  is  or  is  not  truth.  The  freedom  of  religion  is  one  thing,  the 
freedom  of  heresy  and  unbelief  is  another,  and  we  cannot  fall  into 
the  gross  folly  of  confounding  the  one  with  the  other,  because  an 
heretical  and  unbelieving  age,  or  an  heretical  or  unbelieving  histo- 
rian, does.  The  two  liberties  are  essentially  distinct,  and  rest  on 
very  different  grounds,  and  should  never  be  confounded  one  with  the 
other,  or  called  by  one  and  the  same  name.  It  is  their  confusion 
that  creates  the  mischief,  and  gives  to  heretics  the  effrontery  to  call 
themselves  the  friends  of  religious  liberty,  and  to  pretend  that  the 
Church  is  a  spiritual  despotism.  Religious  liberty  is  the  natural 
and  inherent  right  of  every  man,  for  both  by  the  natural  and  divine 
laws  man  has  the  right  to  render  unto  God  what  God  requires  of 
him,  —  the  right  to  do  his  duty;  but  the  liberty  of  heresy  and  un- 
belief is  not  a  natural  right,  for  by  the  law  of  nature,  as  well  as  the 
divine  law,  every  man  is  bound  to  be  of  the  true  religion,  and  has  no 
right  to  be  of  any  other.  All  the  rights  the  sects  have  or  can  have 
are  derived  from  the  state,  and  rest  on  expediency.  As  they  have, 
in  their  character  of  sects  hostile  to  true  religion,  no  rights  under  the 
law  of  nature  or  the  law  of  God,  they  are  neither  wronged  nor 
deprived  of  liberty  if  the  state  refuses  to  grant  them  any  rights  at 
all ;  for  wrong  is  done,  liberty  is  taken  away  by  the  state,  only  when 
it  violates  rights  which  are  held  under  the  law  of  nature  or  the  law 
of  God,  independent  of  the  state,  and  which  it  is  instituted  not  to 
concede,  but  to  protect.  The  protection  of  the  sects  in  the  practice 
of  their  heresies  is  never  on  their  side  a  question  of  right,  or  of  what 
they  may  claim  as  a  right,  but  is  always  a  question  of  simple  expe- 
diency ;  and  so  it  must  be,  till  you  can  obliterate  all  distinction  be- 
tween right  and  wrong,  and  establish  the  indififcrcncy  of  truth  and 
error.  Heresy  and  unbelief,  if  really  heresy  and  unbelief,  are  con- 
trary to  the  law  of  God,  and  therefore  have  and  can  have  no  rights 


APPENDIX    A.  145 

of  their  own,  and  then  none  that  the  state  is,  for  their  sake,  bound 
to  concede  or  to  protect." — Ihid,  pp.  455-6. 

"  We  yield  to  no  man  in  our  devotion  to  religious  liberty,  but  we 
have  yet  to  learn  that,  in  order  to  defend  the  liberty  of  religion,  we 
must  defend  the  equal  liberty  of  heresy  and  unbelief,  and  maintain 
that  the  state  is  bound  in  all  cases  to  place  error  and  blasphemy  on 
an  equal  footing  with  truth  and  piety." — Hid,  p.  457. 

In  arguing  against  the  position  of  the  Gallican  Church,  in  which 
by  agreement  the  Church  and  the  State  hold  their  power  directly 
from  God,  the  Reviewer  sums  up  his  argument  thus  : 

"  If  in  spirituals  Peter  could  say  to  Csesar,  '  I  am  your  master,' 
in  temporals  Caesar  could  say  to  Peter,  '  I  am  your  lord,  and  you  are 
my  subject.'  To  this  specious  theory,  which  is  still  popular  even 
with  many  Catholics,  there  are  one  or  two  rather  grave  objections. 
In  the  first  place,  the  normal  relation  of  the  two  orders  is  not,  and 
cannot  be,  that  of  equality  or  mutual  independence,  because  the  tem- 
poral order,  as  we  have  heretofore  shown,  exists  for  the  spiritual,  not 
for  itself,  and  is  therefore  subordinate  to  the  spiritual,  and  conse- 
quently subject  to  the  spiritual  sovereign,  in  obedience  to  whose  au- 
thority the  temporal  sovereign  must  govern.  This  lies  in  the  nature 
of  the  case,  and  cannot  be  denied,  if  we  concede  any  spiritual  order 
at  ^\\."—Juhj,  1853,  p.  290. 

"•  There  is  always,  even  in  the  most  Catholic  times  and  in  the 
most  Catholic  states,  a  party,  more  or  less  numerous,  who  have  no 
conception  of  religion  as  law,  or  of  the  Church  as  a  kingdom,  with  a 
constitution,  laws,  and  chiefs  of  her  own,  set  up  on  the  earth  with 
plenary  authority,  under  God,  over  states  and  individuals, — a  party 
who  never  think  of  the  Church  as  a  divinely  constituted  govern- 
ment, even  in  spirituals,  and  count  for  nothing  her  external  organi- 
tion,  her  mission,  or  her  discipline.  The  Creed,  the  Sacraments, 
and  the  Ritual  compromise,  for  them,  the  whole  of  religion,  and  they 
never  can  or  never  will  understand  why  these  may  not  be  just  as 
salutary  when  held  out  of  unity  as  when  held  in  it." — Hid,  p.  299. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  large   party  in   the  bosom   of  the   Catholic 

Church,  who  believe  that   Protestants  will  not  all  perish  forever. 

Just  as  Protestants  believe  that  every  truly  pious  person   in  the 

Catholic  Church  will  be  saved,  in  spite  of  the  sins  of  the  Hierarchy. 

10 


146  APPENDIX    A. 

"In  these  revolutionary  times  the  great  point  to  be  specially  in- 
sisted on,  it  seems  to  us,  is,  that  the  Church  is  a  government,  a  king- 
dom, the  Kingdom  of  kingdoms  and  Principality  of  principalities. 
What  is  most  important  is,  to  understand  that  she  is  a  power,  an  or- 
ganized power,  divinely  constituted,  assisted,  and  protected,  repre- 
senting the  Divine  authority  on  earth,  and  as  such  universal  and 
supreme.  How  the  state  is  organized,  or  by  whom  administered,  is 
a  matter  of  comparative  indifference.  The  state  may  be  monarchi- 
cal or  republican,  aristocratic  or  democratic,  if  it  only  be  understood 
and  conceded  that  over  it,  as  over  every  individual,  there  is  a  spirit- 
ual kingdom,  a  spiritual  authority,  commissioned  by  God  himself,  to 
interpret  and  apply  his  law  to  every  department  of  human  life,  indi- 
vidual or  social,  public  or  private ;  for  if  such  authority  be  recog- 
nized and  submitted  to,  no  interest,  temporal  or  spiritual,  can  fail  to 
be  protected  and  promoted.  Undoubtedly,  the  assertion  of  this  au- 
thority is  a  delicate  matter,  owing  to  the  utter  confusion  which 
obtains  in  men's  minds  respecting  it;  but  we  pray  such  of  our  read- 
ers as  have  some  little  candor  and  good-will  to  bear  in  mind  that  to 
assert  this  authority  is  by  no  means  to  merge  the  state  in  the  Church, 
or  to  claim  for  the  Church  direct  temporal  authority,  although  even 
to  claim  for  her  direct  temporal  authority  is  not,  to  say  the  least,  for- 
bidden to  the  Catholic.  What  we  here  assert  is,  that  the  spiritual 
authority,  in  the  nature  of  the  case  and  by  the  express  appointment 
of  Grod,  extends  beyond  what  are  ordinarily  called  spirituals,  —  to 
all  matters  which  do  or  can  interest  conscience,  or  concerning  which 
there  can  arise  any  question  of  right  or  wrong,  true  or  false.  The 
Church,  we  grant,  nay,  maintain,  is  spiritual,  and  governs  in  refer- 
ence, and  only  in  reference,  to  a  spiritual  end ;  but  as  the  temporal 
order  subsists  only  by  and  for  the  spiritual,  she,  though  not  it  any 
more  than  God  is  the  world,  nor  the  temporal  authority  itself,  has, 
as  the  God  whose  representative  on  earth  she  is,  supreme  authoi'ity 
over  it,  and  the  full  right,  under  God,  to  prescribe  to  it  the  law  it  is 
bound  in  all  things  and  at  all  times  to  consult  and  obey."  — 
Ihid,  p.  300. 

"  There  is  a  point  beyond  which  submission  to  the  temporal  au- 
thority, whether  monarchical  or  republican,  aristocratic  or  demo- 
cratic, is  apostasy,  and  can  in  no  sense  whatever  be  tolerated.  We 
must  say  all  this,  and  our  enemies  know  it;  and  they  know  that  the 


APPENDIX    A.  147 

great  body  of  the  faithful  will  place  that  point  where  it  is  declared 
to  be  by  the  Sovereign  PontifiF." — Rid,  p.  314. 

"  The  leading  political  doctrine  of  the  day,  democracy  itself  as 
DOW  generally  understood,  is  only  the  political  phase  of  Calvinism, 
and  it  wants  little  of  being  pure  socialism,  for  it  excludes  God,  and 
renders  society  supreme.  In  fact  socialism  is  nothing  but  Protest- 
antism gone  to  seed,  and  no  man  can  be  a  consistent  Protestant  with- 
out holding  all  the  principles  necessary  to  serve  as  the  logical  basis 
socialism.  None,  therefore,  but  a  Catholic,  as  we  so  often  repeat,  can 
either  consistently  or  successfully  attack  the  socialistic  tendencies  of 
the  country." — Ibid,  p.  415. 

"It  is  a  grave  mistake  to  suppose  that  all  is  Catholic  in  Catholic 
countries,  and  that  the  Church  there  has  every  thing  her  own  way. 
Scarcely  a  professedly  Catholic  government,  from  the  first  Christian 
Emperor  down  to  the  last  of  the  German  Kaisers,  or  to  the  present 
Emperor  of  the  French,  has  left  the  Church  perfectly  free  to  enforce 
in  her  own  way  her  own  discipline,  and  has  been  ready  in  all  things 
to  lend  her,  when  requisite,  the  support,  for  that  purpose,  of  the 
secular  arm.  As  a  general  thing,  professedly  Catholic  governments, 
as  well  as  others,  have  shown  themselves  at  all  times  jealous  of  the 
ecclesiastical  authority,  and  sought  to  treat  ecclesiastics  officiating  in 
their  respective  dominions  as  subject  to  their  jurisdiction.  They 
never  willingly  recognize  the  Church  as  the  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth,  independent  of  all  earthly  kingdoms,  and  above  them  all,  in- 
stituted for  the  express  purpose  of  making  the  kingdoms  of  this  world 
the  kingdoms  of  God  and  of  his  Christ,  —  of  teaching  and  directing 
all  men  and  nations  in  the  way  of  holiness.  Even  when  they  cheer- 
fully admit  her  as  doctrine  and  as  worship,  they  only  reluctantly 
recognize  her  as  a  kingdom,  as  government,  as  law.  They  claim  to 
be  themselves,  each  in  its  own  dominions,  the  supreme  and  only 
government,  and  hence,  when  the  Church  presents  herself  in  the 
aspect  of  a  government,  and  of  a  government  that  claims  to  govern 
not  only  abstractions,  rites,  and  ceremonies,  but  men,  and  men,  too, 
in  every  department  of  life,  in  their  souls  as  well  as  their  bodies,  in 
their  relations  to  earth  as  well  as  to  heaven,  to  their  temporal  rulers 
as  well  as  to  their  spiritual  chiefs,  she  seems  to  them  a  dangerous 
rival,  and  they  place  themselves  on  their  guard  against  her,  and  seek 


148  APPENDIX    A. 

to  deprive  her  of  her  governing  power,  and  to  confine  her  action  to  a 
subordinate  sphere.  This  would  be  well  enough,  if  the  secular 
government  were,  as  it  assumes  to  be,  the  supreme  and  only  govern- 
ment, if  God  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  temporal  order,  or  if  it  had 
pleased  him  to  intervene  in  the  government  of  mankind  only  through 
the  medium  of  the  state;  that  is,  if  the  state,  and  not  the  Cliurch, 
were  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  It  would  also  be  well  enough, 
if  the  Church  were  a  mere  human  institution,  and  not,  as  she  is,  the 
Church  of  God,  divinely  constituted  and  commissioned  for  the  very 
purpose  of  teaching  and  applying  to  sovereigns  as  well  as  to  subjects, 
and  to  sovereigns  in  their  public  and  official  capacity  as  well  as  in 
their  private  capacity,  the  supreme  law,  the  law  which  all  alike,  and 
in  all  things,  are  bound  to  obey."]  — April,  1853,  p.  152. 

"We  cannot  name  a  single  professedly  Catholic  state,  that  has 
afforded,  for  these  three  hundred  years,  more  than  a  momentary  con- 
solation to  the  Holy  Father.  The  bitterest  enemies  of  the  Holy 
Father  have  been  of  his  own  household,  and  the  only  sovereigns  in 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth,  that 
treated  him  with  respect,  were,  we  grieve  to  say  it,  sovereigns  sepa- 
rated from  his  communion.  Pius  the  Seventh  was  indebted  to  Great 
Britain,  Russia,  and  Prussia,  for  the  restoration  of  the  temporal  pos- 
sessions of  the  Holy  See,  usurped  by  one  Catholic  Emperor  and 
retained  by  another.  How  absurd,  then,  to  suppose  that  all  in 
Catholic  states  is  Catholic,  that  even  professedly  Catholic  sovereigns 
are  always,  or  even  ordinaril}',  the  obedient  sons  of  the  Church,  and 
that  she  is  responsible  for  all  that  is  done  in  countries  where  she  is 
legally  recognized ! 

"  ^Ye  have,  as  Catholics,  not  a  few  grievances  to  complain  of  in 
this  country,  but  there  is  no  Catholic  country  in  the  world  where  the 
Church  is  as  free  and  as  independent  as  she  is  here,  none  where  the 
Pope  is  so  truly  Pope,  and  finds,  so  far  as  Catholics  are  concerned, 
so  little  resistance  to  the  full  exercise  of  his  authority  as  visible 
Head  of  the  Church.  The  reason  is,  not  that  the  government  here 
favors  or  protects  the  Church,  but  that  it  lets  her  alone."] — Ibid. 
p.  154-5. 

These  two  passages  furnish  evidence  of  the  breadth  of  the  Papal 
claims  for  secular  power,  and  prove  also  that  even  where  the  popula- 


APPENDIX    A.  149 

tion  and  rulers  were  Catholic,  there  has  been  a  constant  resistance  to 
this  claim.  Eels  do  not  always  become  so  used  to  skinning  that  they 
do  not  occasionally  squirm  under  the  process. 

"  Discipline  belongs  to  the  Church  as  much  as  doctrine,  and  she 
bears  the  keys  as  well  as  the  word,  and  her  liberty  is  as  much  in- 
fringed when  she  is  denied  the  liberty  of  exercising  the  power  of  the 
keys,  as  when  she  is  denied  the  liberty  of  teaching,  or  of  celebrating 
Mass.  She  has  authority  over  all  persons,  whatever  their  state  or 
dignity,  to  bind  and  loose,  and  God  assures  her  that  whatever  she 
binds  or  looses  on  earth,  shall  be  bound  and  loosed  in  heaven.  This 
power  is  that  which  constitutes  her  a  kingdom,  and  gives  her  the 
faculty  to  govern.  Without  it  she  might  teach  and  pray,  and  advise, 
but  could  have  no  power  to  make  her  doctrines  observed  or  her  pre- 
cepts obeyed.  To  deprive  her  of  this  power,  to  prohibit  her  from 
fulminating  spiritual  censures,  and  binding  the  violator  of  God's  law, 
whoever  he  may  be,  would  be  to  reduce  hea*  to  the  level  of  a  sect  or 
of  a  school  of  philosophy;  and  to  resist  the  exercise  of  this  terrible 
power  is  no  less  sinful  than  to  deny  the  truth  she  teaches.  It  is  by 
this  power  especially  that  she  is  able  to  enforce  the  obedience  of  sub- 
jects to  their  sovereigns,  and  the  practice  of  justice  by  sovereigns  to 
their  subjects,  and  therefore  it  is  only  by  recognizing  this  power,  and 
allowing  her  free  scope  for  its  effectual  assertion,  that  she  can  exer- 
cise that  guardian  care  of  the  state,  and  have  that  conservative 
influence  in  society,  which  late  events  have  proved  to  be  so  indis- 
pensable. 

"This  granted,  it  is  easy  to  see  the  wisdom  and  necessity  of  the 
Papal  constitution  of  the  Church.  The  Church  is  a  kingdom,  a 
powei",  and  as  such  must  have,  if  she  is  to  exercise  her  authority,  a 
supreme  chief.  This  authority  is  to  be  exercised  over  states  as  well 
as  over  individuals ;  therefore  the  Church  as  a  government  must  be 
Catholic,  for  otherwise  it  could  not  govern  all  nations ;  it  must  be 
one  and  Catholic,  otherwise  it  would  be  subjected  by  each  sovereign 
iu  his  own  dominions.  And  this  unity  and  Catholicity  are  impossible 
without  the  monarchical  constitution,  without  its  subjection  to  a  single 
head,  with  supreme  authority  over  the  whole  body,  prepared  at  any 
moment  to  exercise  that  authority  on  any  point  and  against  any 
enemy  that  may  be  necessary.     This  is  the  point  towards  which  we 


150  APPENDIX    A. 

have  been  looting  from  the  first,  and  contains  the  practical  lesson 
which  we  wish  to  impress  on  the  minds  of  our  readers.  The  Church 
is  built  on  Peter,  and  its  defence  is  all  included  in  the  defence  of 
Peter,  as  the  state  is  defended  in  defending  its  sovereign.  Vbi 
Fetrus,  ihi  Ecdesia.  But  though  we  have  reached  the  point  at 
which  we  have  been  aiming,  we  must  reserve  its  development  and 
defence  to  a  future  number." — Ihid.  p.  162-3. 

''Protestantism,  and  through  it  its  father,  the  Devil,  gains  so^lh. 
Provided  he  gains  these,  think  you  he  cares  whether  they  come  to 
him  by  formal  apostacy,  or  by  the  breach  of  a  commandment,  be  it 
the  fourth  or  the  sixth  ?     He  gets  them  at  any  rate." — Ihid.  p.  248. 

"  It  is  not  our  purpose,  in  this  article,  to  argue  the  point  between 
radicalism  and  Christian  politics.  We  have  often  discussed  it,  and 
shall  often  discuss  it  again  in  our  pages.  Our  present  purpose  is  to 
cite  decisions  of  positive  law,  and  to  put  two  or  three  questions. 
One  is,  whether  there  is  any  divine  law  which  convicts  modern  de- 
mocracy of  sin.  Another  is,  what  sort  of  a  sin  is  it  ?  Finally, 
whether  Catholics  in  our  country  have  been,  are,  or  may  be  tempted 
to  commit  it.  It  is  clear  enough,  if  religion  be  supreme  over  politics, 
as  it  certainly  is,  —  if  modern  radical  doctrines  be  at  variance  with 
the  fourth  commandment,  as  they  certainly  are,  —  if  this  fourth  com- 
mandment be  yet  binding  upon  the  conscience  of  men,  as  nobody 
can  deny,  and  if  its  breach  incurs  the  penalty  of  eternal  damnation, 
as  it  certainly  does,  —  that  notwithstanding  the  outcry  of  baptized 
and  unbaptized  radicals,  the  sin  must  be  placed  in  the  same  category 
with  murder,  theft,  and  lust."  — Ihid.  p.  252. 

If  the  writer  has  any  antipathy  stronger  than  that  against  Pro- 
testantism, it  is  his  hatred  of  Democracy. 

'"'  It  is  quite  the  fashion  even  for  Catholic  politicians  to  assert 
that,  though  the  Church  is  supreme  in  spirituals,  the  State  in  tem- 
porals is  absolutely  independent  of  her  authority.  '  Render  unto 
Cajsar  the  things  that  are  Cajsar's.  As  long  as  the  Church  keeps 
within  her  own  province,  and  confines  herself  to  spirituals,  we  respect 
her,  and  submit  to  her  authority ;  in  spirituals,  we  even  recognize 
the  authority  of  the  Pope,  and  allow  that  in  them  he  may  do  what 
he  pleases ;  but  he  has  no  authority  in  temporals,  and  in  them  we 


APPENDIX    A.  151 

will  do  as  we  please.'  Such  is  the  popular  doctrine  of  the  day,  and 
of  not  a  few  who  would  take  it  as  a  gross  affront  and  as  downright 
injustice  were  we  to  insinuate  that  they  are  but  sorry  Catholics. 
Scarcely  a  Catholic  amongst  us  engaged  in  politics  can  open  his 
mouth  without  uttering  this  doctrine,  and  uttering  it  as  if  it  were  an 
incontestable  truth  and  a  maxim  of  divine  wisdom.  It  has  become 
the  commonplace  of  the  whole  political  world,  and  is  rung  out  upon 
us  from  thrones  and  the  cabinets  of  ministers,  the  halls  of  justice  and 
legislation,  and  from  the  hustings  and  the  caucus.  Whoso  ventures 
to  question  it,  is  stared  at  as  the  ghost  of  some  old  dreamy  monk  of 
the  Dark  Ages.  Let  us,  then,  be  allowed  to  examine  it." — January^ 
1853,  p.  34. 

The  reviewer  proceeds  to  the  examination.  He  allows  no  distinc- 
tion between  a  monarchy  and  a  democracy.  "  You  only  crown  the 
people  instead  of  one  man."     His  conclusion  is  thus  stated : 

"  We  wish  the  people  free,  —  free  from  their  own  passions,  and 
from  yours  and  mine, — alike  free  from  despots  and  from  demagogues ; 
and  we  know  there  is  and  can  be  no  freedom  for  them,  either  in  spi- 
rituals or  temporals,  except  in  so  far  as  they  are  subjected  to  the  law 
of  God,  as  interpreted  and  applied  by  his  Church.'' — Ibid.  p.  37. 

*<  No  man,  unless  a  downright  atheist,  dares,  in  just  so  many 
words,  to  assert  the  monstrous  proposition,  that  the  temporal  order  is 
not  subjected  to  the  law  of  God." — Ibid.  p.  38. 

''  This  established,  we  demand  to  whom,  under  God,  it  belongs  to 
keep,  interpret,  and  declare  the  law  of  Christ  ?  Whom  hath  our  Lord 
constituted  the  depositary,  the  guardian,  and  the  judge  of  his  law? 
Certainly  the  Holy  Roman  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church,  and  the 
successor  of  Peter  as  visible  head  or  supreme  chief  of  that  Church. 
....  The  commission  is  to  the  Church,  not  to  the  State,  and  no- 
where can  it  be  found  that  our  Lord  has  made  princes,  as  such, 
guardians  and  judges  of  his  law,  even  in  the  temporal  order.  He 
only  gives  them  authority  to  execute  it  when  declared  to  them.  Be- 
sides, to  keep,  teach,  and  declare  the  law  of  Christ,  whether  in  spi- 
rituals or  temporals,  is  manifestly  a  spiritual  function,  and  temporal 
sovereigns,  it  is  confessed  in  the  very  doctrine  we  oppose,  have  no 
spiritual  functions." — Ibid.  41. 


152  APPENDIX    A. 

''All  things  are  ordered  in  reference  to  her  (the  Church).  Her 
Maker  is  her  Husband,  and  he  will  own  none  as  his  children  who 
have  not  been  carried  in  her  womb  and  nursed  at  her  breasts.  Such 
is  his  will,  eternal  as  his  own  being,  and  which  is  without  variable- 
ness or  shadow  of  turning,  immutable  and  immovable  as  his  own 
nature.  She  has  been  instituted  expressly  to  guide,  assist,  and  con- 
duct us  to  God.  For  this  end  she  has  been  made  the  depository  of 
the  law  of  Christ,  authorized  to  keep,  to  teach,  to  interpret  and  apply 
it, — to  teach,  feed,  rule,  and  defend  all  men  and  nations,  in  reference 
to  their  final  and  only  end.  How,  then,  say  she  has  no  authority 
over  temporals?  How  can  she  have  authority  to  judge  the  only  end 
for  w^hich  temporals  exist,  or  have  any  right  to  exist,  if  she  have  not 
the  right  to  judge  them,  and  to  approve  or  condemn  them  as  they  do 
or  do  not  subserve  this  end.  How  can  she  have  charge  of  the  end 
without  also  having  charge  of  the  means,  since  the  means  are  neces- 
sarily subordinated  to  the  end,  and  controlled  by  it  ?  As  she  has 
charge  of  the  end,  that  is,  of  gaining  the  end,  she  must  have  charge 
of  the  means,  and  as  the  temporal  exists  only  as  a  means  to  man's 
final  end,  she  must,  by  virtue  of  the  very  spiritual  authority  which 
she  confessedly  is,  have  supreme  power  over  the  temporal,  and 
plenary  authority  to  govern  it  according  to  the  demands  or  the  utility 
of  the  end,  and  therefore  in  all  respects  whatever." — Ibid.  46. 

"  Now,  although  we  do  not  say  that  the  Church  commissions  the 
State,  or  imposes  the  conditions  on  which  it  holds  its  right  to  govern, 
yet  as  it  holds  under  the  law  of  Christ,  and  on  conditions  imposed 
by  that  law,  we  do  say  that  she,  as  the  guardian  and  judge  of  that 
law,  must  have  the  power  to  take  cognizance  of  the  State,  and  to 
judge  whether  it  does  or  does  not  conform  to  the  conditions  of  its 
trust,  and  to  pronounce  sentence  accordingly;  which  sentence  ought 
to  have  immediate  practical  execution  in  the  temporal  order,  and  the 
temporal  power  that  resists  it  is  not  only  faithless  to  its  trust,  but 
guilty  of  direct  rebellion  against  God,  the  only  real  Sovereign, 
Fountain  of  all  law,  and  Source  of  all  rights,  in  the  temporal  order 
as  in  the  spiritual." — Ibid.  47. 

"  The  Pope,  then,  even  by  virtue  of  his  spiritual  authority,  has 
the  power  to  judge  all  temporal  questions,  if  not  precisely  as  tem- 
poral, yet  as  spiritual,  —  for  all  temporal  questions  are  to  be  decided 
by  their  relation  to  the  spiritual, — and  therefore  has  the  right  to  pro- 


APPENDIX    A.  153 

nounce  sentence  of  deposition  against  any  sovereign  when  required 
by  the  good  of  the  spiritual  order." — Ihid.  48. 

"If  the  Church  is  the  spiritual  power,  with  the  right  to  declare 
the  law  of  Christ  for  all  men  and  nations,  can  any  act  of  the  State 
in  contravention  of  her  canons  be  regarded  as  a  law?  The  most 
vulgar  common  sense  answers  that  it  cannot.  Tell  us  then,  even 
supposing  the  Church  to  have  only  spiritual  power,  what  question 
can  come  up  between  man  and  man,  between  sovereign  and  sovereign, 
between  subject  and  sovereign,  or  sovereign  and  subject,  that  does 
not  come  within  the  legitimate  jurisdiction  of  the  Church,  and  on 
which  she  has  not  by  divine  right  the  power  to  pronounce  a  judicial 
sentence  ?  None  ?  Then  the  power  she  exercised  over  sovereigns  in 
the  Middle  Ages  was  not  a  usurpation,  was  not  derived  from  the  con- 
cession of  princes  or  the  consent  of  the  people,  but  was  and  is  hers 
by  divine  right;  and  whoso  resists  it  rebels  against  the  King  of 
kings  and  Lord  of  lords.  This  is  the  ground  on  which  we  defend 
the  power  exercised  over  sovereigns  by  Popes  and  Councils  in  the 
Middle  Ages. 

"  We  know  this  ground  is  not  acceptable  to  sovereigns,  to  courtiers, 
or  to  demagogues.  But  is  that  our  fault  ?  Who  has  made  it  our 
duty  to  please  them  ?  Are  we  not  bound  to  please  God,  and  to 
adhere  to  the  truth,  let  it  offend  whom  it  may?" — Ibid.  49. 

We  have  in  the  United  States  a  vast  body  of  Constitutional  and 
Legislative  enactments  which  are  in  flat  contravention  of  the  Canon 
Law.  "  The  most  vulgar  (Papal)  common  sense "  pronounces  all 
these  to  be  void.  The  Papal  ecclesiastic  laughs  in  his  sleeve,  and 
says  "wait  a  little,"  and  we  will  show  you  what  such  nonsense  is 
worth ! 

"  The  modern  demagogue  does  for  the  people  what  the  German 
lawyer  did  for  the  German  Kaiser.  He  does  not  say  the  people  are 
sovereign  under  the  law  of  God  interpreted  by  the  Church ;  but  he 
says  the  people  are  the  living  law,  the  fountain  of  all  rights,  and 
from  them  emanates  all  just  authority,  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical. 
Therefore  he  makes  the  people  emperor,  sovereign  pontiff,  god. 
Hence  he  actually  uses  the  strange  terms  people-king,  people-pontiff, 
people-god.  Read  Pierre  Leroux,  read  Giuseppe  Mazzini,  and  you 
will  find  these  barbarous  epithets,  or  their  equivalents,  used  in  sober 


154  APPENDIX    A. 

earnestness,  and  the  last-mentioned  of  these  worthies  is  the  recog- 
nized chief  of  the  whole  European  democracy,  and  commands  the 
sympathy  of  constitutional  England  and  democratic  America.  The 
people  are  crowned  and  deified  in  opposition  to  kings  and  emperors, 
but  it  is  still  the  assertion  of  the  independence,  nay,  the  supremacy, 
of  the  temporal  order,  and  the  denial  of  its  subordination  to  the  law 
of  God.  The  people  are  king,  pope,  god,  and  may  do  what  they 
will,  and  hence  for  the  despotism  of  kings  we  have  the  despotism  of 
the  mass,  social  despotism,  or  rather  the  despotism  of  the  demagogues 
who  control  the  people. 

'^  But  some  revolt,  again,  at  this,  and  will  no  more  submit  to  king- 
people  than  to  any  other  king.  They  see  in  the  people  only  a  col- 
lection of  individuals,  and  will  not  admit  of  the  whole  collectively 
any  more  than  is  true  of  each  individual  taken  separately.  Hence 
we  actually  hear  individuals,  not  in  a  mad-house,  not  looked  upon  as 
out  of  their  senses,  but  honored  and  held  up  as  the  great  lights  of 
their  age,  claim  for  each  individual  what  the  lawyers  claimed  for 
Kaiser,  what  the  demagogue  claims  for  the  people  e?i  masse,  and 
assert,  each  for  himself,  I  am  emperor,  sovereign  pontiff,  and  god. 
It  is  only  the  logical  consequence  of  the  Protestant  doctrine  of  pri- 
vate judgment,  only  Protestantism  consistently  developed.  But  with 
this  monstrous  claim  of  the  individual,  no  law,  no  government,  no 
society,  nothing  but  anarchy,  is  possible.  Here  is  where  the  move- 
ment against  the  absolutism  of  kings  does  and  must  end.  Asserting 
the  independence  of  the  temporal  order,  it  passed  on  to  the  abso- 
lutism of  the  mass,  and  from  that  it  passes  on  to  the  absolutism  of 
the  individual,  the  Free  Trade  of  the  late  "William  Leggett,  and 
would  pass  further,  only  there  is  no  further;  sink  to  a  lower  deep, 
only  a  lower  deep  there  is  not. 

"  Would  you  have  us  follow  in  this  track,  assert  people-king, 
people-pontiff,  people-god,  or  declare  each  individual  emperor,  supreme 
pontiff,  god?  Would  you  have  us,  in  order  not  to  incur  the  censure 
of  our  age,  or  offend  the  god  of  our  demagogues,  so  belie  our  common 
sense,  so  stultify  ourselves,  as  to  accept  such  arrant  nonsense,  or 
rather  such  horrid  blasphemy,  which  the  fools  of  the  day  boast  as  a 
proof  of  the  light  and  progress  of  this  nineteenth  century  ]  But 
we  must  do  it,  or  reassert  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  supremacy  of 
the  spiritual  order,  and  maintain  that  the  whole  temporal  order  in 
all  things  is  subordinated  to  the  law  of  God  as  interpreted  by  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church." — Ibid.,  pp.  56,  57. 


APPENDIX    A.  155 

''  The  Church  any  day  is  as  sovereign  as  Casar,  and  as  safe  a  de- 
pository of  power,  and  the  insolence  and  encroachments  of  Church- 
men, suppose  them  to  be  as  great  as  the  most  shameless  courtier  or 
politician  ever  pretended,  are  less  intolerable  than  the  insolence  and 
encroachments  of  Caesar  and  his  satellites.  Any  day  the  mitre  is 
above  the  crown,  and  the  priest  above  the  demagogue.  But  after  all, 
we  have  a  tolerable  pledge  of  the  good  behavior,  of  the  justice  and 
discretion,  of  the  Church  in  the  fact  that  she  is  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church,  the  Church  of  God,  the  Kingdom  of  Christ,  the  immaculate 
Spouse  of  the  Lamb,  divinely  commissioned  and  supernaturally 
assisted  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  teach  and  judge  the  law  of  God,  and 
to  conduct  individuals  and  nations  in  the  way  of  truth  and  holiness. 
We  trust  her  in  all  that  concerns  the  soul,  and  it  would  be  a  hard 
case  if  we  could  not  trust  her  also  in  all  that  concerns  the  body." — 
Hid.  pp.  58,  59. 

'^  When,  then,  we  find  a  sovereign  pontiff  judging,  condemning, 
and  deposing  a  secular  prince,  releasing  his  subjects  from  their  obli- 
gation to  obey  him,  and  authorizing  them  to  choose  them  another 
king,  we  may  regret  the  necessity  for  such  extreme  measures  on  the 
part  of  the  Pontiff,  but  we  see  in  them  only  the  bold  and  decided 
exercise  of  the  legitimate  authority  of  the  spiritual  power  over  the 
temporal ;  and  instead  of  blushing  for  the  chief  of  our  religion,  or 
joining  our  voice  to  swell  the  clamor  against  him,  we  thank  him  with 
our  whole  heart  for  his  fidelity  to  Christ,  and  we  give  him  the  highest 
honor  that  we  can  give  to  a  true  servant  of  God  and  benefactor  of 
mankind." — Ibid.  61. 

''  0  Sovereign  Pontiff,  Successor  of  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles, 
Vicar  of  God  on  earth,  if  ever  through  love  of  the  world,  or  through 
fear  of  the  secular  power,  whether  royal  or  popular  in  its  constitution, 
I  forget  to  assert  thy  rights  as  supreme  chief  under  Christ,  my  Sa- 
viour, of  the  whole  spiritual  order,  and  as  such  supreme  alike  in 
spirituals  and  in  temporals,  let  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning, 
and  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth  ! 

"  We  yield  to  none  in  our  loyalty  to  civil  government,  and  we  are 
loyal  to  it  because  we  are  loyal  to  the  successor  of  Peter.  Keligion 
with  us  governs  politics,  and  the  Pope  is  lord  of  Caesar.  "W^ithout 
the  Pope,  the  Church  would  break  into  fragments,  and  dwindle  into 
puny  and  contemptible  Protestant  sects;  without  the  Church,  reli- 


156  APPENDIX   A. 

gion  would  become  an  idle  speculation,  a  maudlin  sentimentj  or  a 
loathsome  superstition." — Ibid.  62. 

"  No  matter  what  may  be  the  self-complacency  of  Protestants,  the 
lofty  airs  they  assume,  the  great,  swelling  words  they  use,  or  the 
grave  tones  in  which  they  speak  of  their  pure,  unadulterated  evan- 
gelical religion,  the  fact  is.  Protestantism,  considered  in  itself,  is  not 
and  never  was  a  religion,  true  or  false,  never  had  a  single  religious 
element,  never  was  sought  and  has  never  been  upheld  from  any 
strictly  religious  motives." — Ibid.  p.  89. 

This  is  endorsed  by  two  xirch-Bishops  and  twenty-two  Bishops, 
for  their  imjjrimatur  is  on  the  cover  of  the  Review  which  contains 
the  above.  Let  it  not  excite  the  ire  of  any  thin-skinned  Protestant. 
It  is  a  regular  step  in  a  process  of  sound  logic,  in  which  the  only 
error  is  in  the  premises.  Let  any  man  but  admit  the  Catholic  idea 
of  the  Church,  and  he  will  find  himself  drawn,  by  the  power  of 
logic,  to  the  same  conclusion.  It  is  only  because  some  who  use  this 
phrase  do  not  ride  their  logic  so  hard,  that  they  are  not  carried  at 
once  to  the  repose  of  the  Church  of  Borne. 

"  The  men  who  adhere  to  Protestantism,  if  they  ever  investigate 
their  own  motives,  know  perfectly  well  that  they  adhere  to  it  only 
because  it  emancipates  them  from  all  religion,  by  subjecting  religion 
now  to  the  State  and  now  to  the  individual  judgment  or  caprice. 

.  .  .  .  ^'  The  Beformation  in  principle  was  not  an  attempt,  though 
a  mistaken  or  an  unlawful  attempt,  to  get  a  purer  and  better  religion 
than  the  Catholic ;  it  was  simply  a  rebellion  against  God,  prompted 
by  the  flesh,  incited  by  the  Devil.     It  was  born  of  hell,  and  hence 

it  is  that  we  seldom  affect  or  disturb  it  by  refuting  its  heresies 

We  must  oppose  Protestantism,  not  as  a  false  theology,  but  as  a  revolt 
of  the  flesh  against  God,  —  as  the  mad  attempt  of  men  to  set  them- 
selves up  above  their  Maker,  and  to  live  as  they  list. 

''  No  doubt  many  Catholics  will  think  this  too  severe,  but  it  is  be- 
cause we  apprehend  that  there  are  some  who  will  so  think  that  we 
say  it.  We  wish  our  friends  to  be  fully  aware  of  the  enormity  of 
Protestantism.  We  are  not  wholly  ignorant  of  the  infinite  tenderness 
of  the  Gospel,  and  we  can  admire,  as  well  as  others,  the  beauty  of 
Christian  charity.  We  know,  too,  that  many,  very  many,  Pro- 
testants are  amiable  fn  their  social  relations,  are  faithful  to  their 


APPENDIX    A.  157 

engagements,  and  honest  in  their  dealings,  and  so  far  very  superior 
to- their  Protestantism  itself;  but  not  therefore  are  we  to  confound 
their  purely  human  or  Gentile  virtues  with  the  supernatural  virtues 
of  the  true  Christian.  We  know  what  allowances  also  to  make  for 
ignorance  and  for  prejudices  early  instilled  in  the  minds  of  Pro- 
testants ;  but  we  are  speaking  to  Catholics,  who  are  always  in  danger 
of  thinking  too  favorably  of  those  who  are  involved  in  the  Protestant 
rebellion  against  God.  We  have  no  wish  to  be  severe ;  we  speak 
not  in  wrath ;  we  would  willingly  lay  down  our  life  to  bring  Pro- 
testants into  the  Church  of  God ;  but  we  believe  it  true  kindness, 
true  charity,  to  strip  oif  the  mask  from  Protestantism,  to  expose  its 
real  features,  and  to  compel  it  to  bear  its  own  appropriate  name,  so 
that  all  the  world  may  see  that  there  is  no  medium  between  Catho- 
licity and  no  religion,  any  more  than  there  is  between  virtue  and 
vice,  truth  and  falsehood,  Christ  and  the  Devil.  If  this  offends, 
then  let  it  offend ;  if  it  do  not  offend  God,  we  shall  remain  at  our 
ease."— Ibid.  pp.  110,  111. 

On  the  same  page  from  which  the  last  passage  is  taken  we  have 
the  quotation,  "  Quern  Dms  vult  perdere,  j^'ius  demcntat."  This 
furnishes  the  key  to  the  extraordinary  frankness  of  this  American 
Romanist.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  draw  any  other  inference  than 
that  he  wishes  to  precipitate  conclusions  with  Protestants.  Goliah 
himself  could  not  be  bolder,  nor  provoke  a  combat  in  more  stinging 
taunts  or  denunciations. 

"  Written  Constitutions,  parliamentary  bodies,  all  the  contrivances 
of  human  wit  and  wisdom  to  restrict  the  power  of  the  ruler,  or  to 
bind  the  subject  to  obedience,  are  of  themselves  insufficient  to  main- 
tain authority  against  anarchy,  or  liberty  against  despotism.  The 
legitimate  authority  of  the  prince,  and  the  just  liberty  of  the  subject, 
wrangle  as  you  will,  are  practicable  only  under  the  supremacy  of  a 
divinely  instituted  and  supcrnaturally  assisted  and  protected  Church. 
To  enslave  this  Church,  or  not  to  recognize  her  authority  and  secure 
her  freedom  and  independence  of  action,  is  at  once  to  destroy  the 
authority  of  the  prince  and  the  liberty  of  the  subject,  or  to  convert 
authority  into  despotism  and  liberty  into  license." — Ibid.  p.  132. 

We  subjoin  some  shorter  but  not  less  significant  passages,  from 
the  pages  of  a  volume  of  "  Reviews  and  Essays,"  published  by  Mr. 


158  APPENDIX    A. 

Brownson,  in  1852.  There  are  selections  by  himself  from  his  previous 
productions  of  such  articles  as  he  deemed  most  important,  and  such 
as  he  desired  most  to  keep  before  the  public.  We  commend  this 
volume  to  Protestant  readers.  It  is  not  soporific,  but  contains 
enough  to  keep  the  faculty  of  wonder  awake  in  those  who  have  not, 
as  Mr.  Webster  once  alleged  to  be  his  case,  had  it  worn  out  by  too 
constant  use. 

"  The  Professor  contends  that  the  Church  is  hostile  to  civil  govern- 
ment ;  we  would  respectfully  ask  him  if  he  has  reflected,  that,  with- 
out her,  civil  government  becomes  impracticable.  How,  without  her 
as  umpire  between  government  and  government,  and  between  prince 
and  subject,  and  without  her  as  a  spiritual  authority  to  command  the 
obedience  of  the  subject  and  the  justice  of  the  prince,  will  he  be 
able  to  secure  the  independence  of  nations,  and  wise  and  just  govern- 
ment."— Broicnson's  Essays  and  Reviews,  p.  207. 

''  Our  own  government  is  sustained  solely  by  the  accidental  advan- 
tages of  the  country,  consisting  chiefly  in  our  vast  quantities  of  un- 
occupied fertile  lands,  which  absorb  our  rapidly  increasing  population, 
and  form  a  sort  of  safety-valve  for  its  superfluous  energy.  Strip  us 
of  these  lands,  or  let  them  be  filled  up  so  that  our  expanding  popu- 
lation should  find  its  limit,  and  be  compelled  to  recoil  upon  itself, 
our  institutions  would  not  stand  a  week." — Ibid.  p.  208. 

"  In  submitting  to  her  (the  Church  of  Rome)  we  are  free,  because 
we  are  submitting  to  God,  who  is  our  rightful  sovereign,  to  whom  we 
belong,  all  that  we  have,  and  all  that  we  are.  Freedom  is  not  in 
being  held  to  no  obedience,  but  in  being  held  to  obey  only  the  legal 
sovereign ;  and  the  more  unqualified  the  obedience,  the  freer  we  are. 
Perfect  freedom  is  in  having  no  will  of  our  own,  in  willing  only  what 
our  sovereign  wills,  and  because  he  wills  it.  If  the  Church,  as  we 
cannot  doubt,  be  really  commissioned  by  God,  the  more  absolute  her 
authority,  the  more  unqualified  our  submission,  the  more  perfect  is 
our  liberty,  as  every  man  knows,  who  knows  any  thing  at  all  of  that 
freedom  wherewith  the  Son  makes  us  free.  But  in  yielding  obe- 
dience to  a  Protestant  sect,  it  is  not  the  same.  When  any  one  of 
our  sects  undertakes  to  dictate  to  conscience,  it  is  tyranny ;  because, 
by  its  own  confession,  it  has  received  no  authority  from  God.  It  is 
tyranny,  even  though  what  it  attempts  to  enforce  be  really  God's 


APPENDIX    A.  159 

word ;  for  it  attempts  to  enforce  it  by  a  human,  and  not  by  a  divine 
authority.  It  would  still  tyrannize,  because  it  has  no  right  to  en- 
force any  thing  at  all.  It  may  say,  as  our  sects  do  say,  it  has  the 
Bible,  that  the  Bible  is  God's  word,  and  that  it  only  exacts  the  obe- 
dience to  God's  commands  which  no  man  has  the  right  to  withhold. 
Be  it  so.  But  who  has  made  it  the  keeper  and  executor  of  God's 
laws?  Where  is  its  commission  under  the  hand  and  seal  of  the 
Almighty?"— itif?.  pp.  220-1. 

"  We,  as  Catholics,  are  taught  by  a  divinely  authorized  Teacher, 
that  government  is  the  ordinance  of  God,  and  that  we  are  to  respect 
and  obey  it  as  such  in  all  things  not  repugnant  to  the  law  of  God; 
and  we  have  an  authority  higher  than  its,  higher  than  our  own,  to 
tell  us,  without  error,  or  the  possibility  of  error,  —  because  by 
Divine  assistance  and  protection  rendered  infallible,  —  when  the  acts 
of  government  conflict  with  the  law  of  God,  and  it  becomes  our  duty 
to  resist  the  former  in  obedience  to  the  latter." — Ihid.  p,  361. 

"  We  have  always  a  public  authority,  which,  as  it  is  inerrable,  can 
never  be  oppressive,  to  guide  and  direct  us,  and  if  we  resist  the 
civil  law,  it  is  only  in  obedience  to  a  higher  law,  clearly  and  dis- 
tinctly declared  by  a  public  authority  higher  than  the  individual,  and 
higher  than  the  state." — Ihid.  p.  362. 

"  We  have  spoken  of  the  tendency,  under  the  name  of  liberty,  to 
anarchy  and  license ;  but  there  is  another  tendency,  under  the  pre- 
text of  authority,  to  civil  despotism,  or  what  has  been  very  properly 
denominated  Statolatry,  or  the  worship  of  the  state,  that  is,  elevating 
the  state  above  the  Church,  and  putting  it  in  the  place  of  God.  Both 
tendencies  have  the  same  origin,  that  is,  in  the  Protestant  rejection 
of  the  spiritual  authority  of  the  Church  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
assertion  of  private  judgment  on  the  other;  and  in  fact,  both  are  but 
the  opposite  phases  or  poles  of  one  and  the  same  principle."  — 
Ihid.  p.  363. 

"  She  (the  Papal  Church)  is  an  integral,  an  essential  element  in 
the  constitution  of  society,  and  it  is  madness  and  folly  to  think  of 
managing  it  and  securing  its  well-being  without  her.  She  is  the  so- 
lution of  all  difficulties,  and  without  her  none  are  solvable."  — 
Ihkl  p.  365. 


160  APPENDIX   A. 

"For  on  the  Catholic  population,  under  God,  depend  the  future 
destinies  of  these  United  States.  The  principles  of  our  holy  reli- 
gion, the  prayers  of  our  Church,  and  the  fidelity  to  their  trusts  of 
the  Catholic  portion  of  the  people,  are  the  only  sure  reliance  left 
ns."— Ibid.  p.  367. 

"  It  is  evident,  from  these  considerations,  that  Protestantism  is  not 
and  cannot  be  the  religion  to  sustain  democracy ;  because,  take  it  in 
•which  stage  you  will,  it,  like  democracy  itself,  is  subject  to  the  con- 
trol of  the  people,  and  must  command  and  teach  what  they  say,  and 
of  course  must  follow,  instead  of  controlling,  their  passions,  interests, 
and  caprices." — Ibid.  375,  376. 

"  The  Constitution,  as  a  restraint  on  the  will  of  the  people  or  the 
governing  majority,  is  already  a  dead  letter.  It  answers  to  talk 
about,  to  declaim  about,  in  electioneering  speeches,  and  even  as  a 
theme  of  newspaper  leaders,  and  political  essays  in  reviews ;  but  its 
effective  power  is  a  morning  vapor  after  the  sun  is  well  uj)." — 
Ibid.  377. 

"  The  Constitution  is  practically  abolished,  and  our  government  is 
virtually,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  we  have  said,  a  pure  demo- 
cracy, with  nothing  to  prevent  it  from  obeying  the  interest  or  inte- 
rests which  for  the  time  being  can  succeed  in  commanding  it." — 
Ibid.  p.  378. 

"And  this  is  good  proof  of  our  position,  that  Protestantism  cannot 
govern  the  people,  —  for  they  govern  it,  —  and  therefore  that  Pro- 
testantism is  not  the  religion  wanted ;  for  it  is  precisely  a  religion 
that  can  and  will  govern  the  people, — be  their  master, — that  we  need. 

"  If  Protestantism  will  not  answer  the  purpose,  what  religion  will  ? 
The  Koman  Catholic,  or  none.  The  Roman  Catholic  religion 
assumes,  as  its  point  of  departure,  that  it  is  instituted,  not  to  be 
taken  care  of  by  the  people,  but  to  take  care  of  the  people ;  not  to 
be  governed  by  them,  but  to  govern  them.  The  word  is  harsh  in 
democratic  ears,  we  admit;  but  it  is  not  the  ofBce  of  religion  to  say 
soft  or  pleasing  words.  It  must  speak  the  truth  even  in  unwilling 
ears,  and  it  has  few  truths  that  are  not  harsh  and  grating  to  the 
worldly-minded  or  the  depraved  heart.  The  people  need  governing, 
and  must  be  governed,  or  nothing  but  anarchy  and  destruction  await 
them.     They  must  have  a  master." — Ibid.  pp.  379,  380. 


APPENDIX    A.  161 

"  But  it  needs  no  very  sharp  observation  to  perceive  that  our 
Republic  has  virtually  failed  to  accomplish  the  hopes  of  its  founders, 
and  that  it  is,  without  some  notable  change  in  the  people,  destined 
either  to  a  speedy  dissolution,  or  to  sink  into  a  miserable  timocracy, 
infinitely  worse  than  the  most  absolute  despotism.  Protestantism, 
if  it  could  originate,  has  not  proved  itself  able  to  sustain  it." — 
Ihid.  433. 

''  Here  is  our  hope  for  our  Republic.  We  look  for  our  safety  to 
the  spread  of  Catholicity.  We  render  solid  and  imperishable  our 
free  institutions  just  in  proportion  as  we  extend  the  kingdom  of  God 
among  our  people,  and  establish  in  their  hearts  the  reign  of  justice 
and  charity.  And  here,  then,  is  our  answer  to  those  who  tell  us 
Catholicity  is  incompatible  with  free  institutions.  We  tell  them  that 
tliey  cannot  maintain  free  'institutions  without  it.  It  is  not  a  free 
government  that  makes  a  free  people,  but  a  free  people  that  makes  a 
free  government;  and  we  know  no  freedom  but  that  wherewith  the 
Son  makes  free." — Ihid.  441. 

We  are  certainly  under  no  small  obligations  to  Mr.  Brownson,  for 
the  very  thorough  and  effective  manner  in  which  he  has  stripped  the 
Papacy  of  the  many  disguises  it  has  worn,  not  only  here,  but  else- 
where. We  mistake  very  much  if  his  revelations  do  not  gain  him 
more  credit  among  the  public  authorities  of  Europe  than  among  those 
of  the  United  States.  No  ecclesiastic  in  this  country  has  had  the 
frankness,  much  less  the  courage,  to  do  what  he  has  done.  lie  has  pre- 
sented the  Romish  system,  in  all  its  magnitude,  as  a  veritable  rival 
to  our  own.  He  is  thoroughly  satisfied  that  our  systems  of  govern- 
ment have  failed,  root  and  branch.  He  tells  us  that,  but  for  our 
vast  fund  of  public  lands,  "our  institutions  would  not  last  a  week;" 
"  that  we  want  the  moral  elements,  without  which  a  republic  cannot 
stand;"  that  we- "have  really  no  social  bond,  no  true  patriotism;" 
"that  there  can  be  no  common  moral  culture  in  the  country,  —  no 
true  religious  training;"  that  some  already  pronounce  "this  republi- 
canism a  mere  delusion  ;"  and  he  avers  that,  "  if  the  country  remains 
Protestant  fifty  years  longer,  facts  will  prove  it ;"  he  tells  us  that 
"  Protestantism  never  has  produced,  and  never  can  produce,  the  vir- 
tues, without  which  a  republican  government  can  have  no  solid  foun- 
dation;" "that  the  tendency  of  Protestantism  is  to  reproduce 
heathen  antiquity,  with  all  its  cant,  hollowness,  hypocrisy,  slavery, 
11 


162  APPENDIX    A. 

and  wretchedness;"  that  "Protestantism  may  seem,  by  its  principle 
of  private  judgment,  to  favor  civil  freedom;  it  often  attempts  to 
establish  free  popular  institutions,  but  it  vrants  virtue  to  sustain 
them;"  that  you  may  "turn  Protestantism  over,  and  analyze  it  as 
you  will,  you  can  make  nothing  of  it  but  vulgar  pride;"  "a  moral 
disease,  rather  than  an  intellectual  aberration ;"  "  the  wrongness  of 
the  head  being  the  cause  of  the  rottenness  of  the  heart;"  "that 
human  pride,  just  now,  takes  the  form  of  Socialism,  and  Socialism 
is  the  Protestantism  of  our  times ;"  and  that,  for  all  this,  the  only 
remedy  is  in  the  Papal  Church.  We  cannot  wonder  that  men  who 
entertain  such  views  as  the  above  extracts  exhibit,  should  be  in  a 
haste  to  extirpate  so  poisonous  a  pestilence  as  Protestantism.  Let  it 
not  be  said  that  these  two  great  religious  parties  are  merely  abusing 
each  other,  and  that  it  is  of  little  consequence  what  they  say.  If  it 
were  a  mere  question  of  hard  names,  or  severe  speeches,  it  wculd, 
indeed,  be  of  little  import,  except  for  the  disgrace  of  the  strife.  The 
dispute  is,  however,  to  be  ultimately  one  of  vital  moment  to  the  peace 
of  the  country,  and  perhaps  to  its  prolonged  existence  as  a  republic. 
The  great  question  now  presented  to  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
and,  thanks  to  Mr.  Brownson,  presented  without  disguise,  is  this  : — 
Shall  we  persist  in  carrying  on  our  present  republican  institutions, 
with  liberty  of  worship  and  the  right  of  private  judgment,  or  shall 
we  confess  that  our  experiment  has  failed,  and  stand  ready  to  accept 
the  protection  and  guidance  of  the  infallible  Church?  —  That  is  the 
important  question  now  pending  —  if  not  extremely  pressing  at  this 
moment,  it  is  becoming  more  so  every  day,  by  our  neglect. 

It  is  not  a  contest  afar  off — it  is  now  going  on.  It  is  no  mere 
war  of  words  —  it  is  a  war  of  principles  —  it  is  a  war  between  civil 
and  religious  liberty  and  the  Papal  Hierarchy ;  in  which,  if  we  but 
maintain  our  principles,  we  are  certain  of  victory ;  but  in  which,  if 
we  yield  any  ground,  we  shall  be  defeated.  What,  then,  is  to  be  our 
attitude  ?  That  Christianity  which  presided  over  the  framing  of 
our  political  institutions,  which  accorded  Christian  toleration  to  all 
men,  with  the  right  of  private  judgment,  in  the  very  teeth  of  Papal 
dogmas;  that  Christianity  which  pervaded  and  still  pervades  our 
common  law  and  our  legislation,  must  be  upheld,  defended,  propa- 
gated, taught  to  the  old  and  to  the  young.  If  that  Christianity  which 
our  fathers  received,  and  under  the  light  of  which  they  framed  our 
laws  and  institutions,  is  not  to  be  an  active,  positive,  pervading  reli- 


APPENDIX   A.  163 

gion,  then  it  must  perish,  and  toleration  with  it.  It  is  our  system 
of  Christianity  which  enjoins  toleration;  Papal  Christianity  forbids 
it,  and  brands  it  as  the  right  of  heresy.  Can  ours,  as  some  contend, 
be  a  negative  system,  retreating  before  every  claim  of  a  right  of  con- 
science ?  The  other,  it  is  now  seen,  is  an  active,  progressive  system, 
using  its  right  of  conscience  as  a  weapon  to  secure  its  advancing 
movements  There  is  then  a  clear  duty  resting  upon  all  that  host 
of  Americans  who  hold  the  great  American  principle  of  Christian 
toleration,  and  that  is,  to  continue  their  system  of  Christianity  as 
the  one  appropriate  to  the  country  and  its  institutions,  and  as  the 
only  system  in  which  civil  and  religious  liberty  can  long  survive. 

Protestantism  does  not  lack  vigor  in  its  members ;  but  here  an 
occasion  arises  in  which  it  must  exercise  some  energy  both  in  brain 
and  body.  It  must  move  in  solid  mass  against  the  enemy  of  Chris- 
tian toleration.  It  cannot  shrink  from  the  struggle  without  betraying 
its  dearest  interests  and  ultimate  safety.  Energy  and  firmness  will 
ensure  a  quiet  and  long  reign  —  a  permanent  conquest.  One  false 
step  now,  may  never  be  retrieved.  Let  those  who  would  sustain  our 
tolerant  system  of  Christianity,  feel  that  conscience  compels  them  to 
sustain  it;  that  they  must  sustain  it,  or  prove  recreant  to  their  own 
convictions  of  duty.  Let  them  advance  the  claims  of  their  system 
of  Christianity  with  as  much  confidence  and  as  much  perseverance  as 
they  would  their  own  personal  rights.  Let  them  study  well  the 
wide  scope  of  constitutional  limits  within  which  these  claims  can  be 
put  forward.  And  having  once  ascertained  their  true  path,  let  them 
maintain  it,  advancing  with  the  progress  of  the  age,  and  adhering 
firmly  to  American  principles,  civil  and  religious. 

The  mass  of  the  Catholics  in  the  United  States  neither  entertain 
such  views,  nor  suppose  that  their  Priests  entertain  them.  The  mass 
of  Protestants  are  as  little  aware  that  such  odious  principles  are  held 
by  Romish  ecclesiastics.  If  they  were  made  sure  of  this,  it  would 
be  difficult  for  the  whole  power  of  the  public  authorities  to  prevent 
their  being  driven  from  the  country  as  its  worst  enemies. 

There  may  be  many  Papal  ecclesiasties  in  this  country,  as  the  mass 
of  the  laymen  undoubtedly  do,  who  regard  these  anti-American  fea- 
tures of  their  system  with  distrust,  if  not  aversion.  There  are 
many  of  whom  we  should  have  hoped  bettei-,  had  their  names  not 
been  appended  to  the  tmj)rlmahir ;  and  especially  is  it  hard  to 
credit  that  the  Bishop  of  New  York  holds  any  such  doctrines  as  those 


164  APPENDIX   A. 

so  boldly  advanced  by  Mr.  Brownson  :  we  think  they  are  inconsistent 
with  much  that  he  has  said  and  written.  The  sentiments  and  spirit 
of  the  author  of  '^A  Lecture  on  the  importance  of  a  Christian  Basis 
for  the  Science  of  Political  Economy,"  and  of  another  on  "■  The  mixture 
of  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical  Power  in  the  Government  of  the  Middle 
Ages/'  seem  of  a  very  different  tenor  and  spirit  from  those  which 
pervade  the  pages  of  the  Review  and  several  other  leading  Papal 
periodicals.  But  whilst  there  may  be  many  Romish  Priests  not 
holding  opinions  so  inconsistent  with  our  American  institutions,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  such  individuals  do  not  govern  the  Papal 
Church.  It  holds  no  such  liberal  opinions;  it  makes  no  compro- 
mises; its  object  is  ever  the  same,  the  absorption  of  all  power,  tem- 
poral and  spiritual ;  and  its  general  policy,  however  it  may  vary,  is 
ever  directed  towards  that  end.  There  may  be  every  variety  of 
ambition  among  these  ecclesiastics,  from  that  which  is  not  censurable, 
to  that  which  pursues,  with  untiring  eagerness,  the  grand  object;  yet 
there  can  be  no  general  deviation  from  this  one  design.  This  is  no 
harsh  judgment,  though  it  may  appear  so  to  such  of  the  Papal  Eccle- 
siastics as  are  not  conscious  of  such  claims  on  the  part  of  their 
Church.  The  great  features  of  the  Papacy  are,  its  claim  to  be 
The  Church,  out  of  whose  pale,  no  salvation  is  possible.  The 
claim  of  an  infallible  Pope  carries  Papal  Ecclesiastics,  by  a  direct 
path,  into  the  policy  we  have  ascribed  to  them.  If  they  believe  men 
can  only  be  saved  but  in  their  Church,  it  ceases  to  be  violence,  it  is 
charity,  to  "  compel  them  to  come  "  within  her  communion  :  if  men 
refuse  to  accept  the  Papal  offer  of  salvation,  and  resist  her  violent 
measures  or  ridicule  her  pretensions,  it  is  a  mercy  to  persecute  and 
destroy  them,  that  others  may  be  deterred  from  following  the  dan- 
gerous example.  It  is  impossible  for  men  holding  such  a  doctrine, 
to  refrain  from  employing  every  practicable  means  to  enlarge  their 
authority.  They  have  the  double  inducement  —  the  love  of  power 
natural  to  all  men,  and  the  belief  that  they  are  doing  God  service. 
They  aim  at  dominion,  not  only  for  dominion's  sake,  but  to  increase 
the  number  of  saints.  It  is  but  justice  to  say,  however,  that  the 
present  race  of  Romish  ecclesiastics  are  not  responsible  for  the  mon- 
strous system  of  spiritual  domination  which  they  uphold.  They 
have  been  trained  from  their  earliest  youth  to  the  positions  they  now 
occupy.  It  would  be  contrary  to  any  just  estimate  of  human  nature, 
to  expect  them  to  see  clearly,  or  reject  its  enormities.     Their  con- 


APPENDIX    A.  165 

duct  is  just  what  we  might  expect  from  men  thus  educated.  Our 
quarrel  is  not  with  the  men,  but  with  the  system. 

There  may  be  Bishops  and  Priests  who  suppose  that  the  spiritual 
and  temporal  power  towards  which  their  Church  proceeds  with  such 
a  determined  step,  would  not  be  abused ;  they  commit  the  mistake 
of  not  seeing  that  all  power  in  human  hands  is  certain  to  be  abused, 
but  most  of  all,  that  which  has  no  assignable  limit;  and  that  is  the 
nature  of  the  power  which  their  Church  claims.  She  claims  it 
because  she  is  infallible,  and  does  not  fear  to  wield  it  because  she  is 
infallible.  But  man  is  fallible,  and  all  the  agents  of  the  Church 
are  fallible,  and  the  greater  power  she  wields,  the  more  mischief  is 
committed.  The  Church  of  Rome  has  always  abused  her  power, 
and  so  has  every  other  church.  If  any  lesson  is  plainly  taught  in 
history,  it  is  that  power  temporal  or  spiritual  is  no  proper  accom- 
paniment of  Christianity,  which  needs  no  other  than  the  power  of 
truth  and  persuasion. 

This  grasping  for  power  is  not  confined  to  the  Papal  Church, 
though  displayed  most  conspicuously  there.  The  history  of  Protes- 
tantism furnishes  striking  examples.  It  is  seen  in  all  the  established 
churches,  and  can  be  detected  in  every  denomination.  It  is  to  be  re- 
marked that  it  is  not  always  the  intelligence  or  piety  of  a  church  which 
determines  or  shapes  its  policy,  but  the  active  intervention  of  men 
who  attempt  to  distinguish  themselves  by  peculiar  zeal,  to  pro- 
cure place,  or  patronage,  or  notoriety,  by  pushing  themselves  into 
conspicuous  positions,  by  assuming  superiority,  by  advancing  new 
claims  vipon  denominational  loyalty,  and  by  intensifying  every  ex- 
pression and  every  feature  of  their  denomination. 

The  more  inactive  members  of  a  church  cannot  afford  to  be  out- 
done by  these  special  zealots,  and  so  they  suffer  themselves  to  be 
carried  wherever  the  more  active  and  zealous  ride  the  denominational 
hobby.  They  may  disapprove,  but  they  either  lack  courage  or  energy 
to  say  so,  and  the  reins  are  thus  surrendered  to  interested,  unworthy, 
mistaken,  or  unskilful  hands.  It  is  power  abused.  The  only  safety 
for  the  Church  of  Christ  is,  to  assume  no  powers,  and  then  none  will 
be  abused.  In  every  large  denomination  of  Christians  there  will  be 
found  strong  tendencies  towards  the  formation  of  governing  cliques, 
and  towards  the  centralization  of  power :  a  few  men  in  central  posi- 
tions often  make  their  influence  felt  to  the  circumference,  and  mould 
measures  and  men  to  their  liking.     As  soon  as  this  power  is  seen  to 


166  APPENDIX    A. 

be  concentrated  in  a  few  liands,  a  host,  wbo  hope  to  avail  themselves 
of  it  in  some  way,  show  ready  court,  and  hasten  to  propitiate  and 
strengthen  a  power  which  may  either  render  them  a  service,  or  do 
them  an  injury.  Power,  both  civil  and  religious,  always  struggles 
to  enlarge  itself,  and  often  from  motives  wholly  unexceptionable. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  power,  both  in  Church  and  State,  increases 
the  opportunities  of  doing  good ;  but  let  it  be  remembered,  power 
corrupts  the  heart  and  increases  the  facilities  of  committing  evil. 
The  Papacy,  then,  is  built  upon  a  system  destined  to  certain  corrup- 
tion, and  to  the  commission  of  vast  mischief.  It  is  a  system  of  cen- 
tralization :  it  is  a  system  which,  in  its  nature,  begets  ambition,  lust 
of  power,  and  usurpation,  and  these  bring  forth  those  vices  of  deeper 
dye  which  blacken  the  calender  of  human  crime. 

The  finger  of  history  has  written  this  upon  every  century  of 
the  Papal  Hierarchy,  in  terms  to  which  no  denial  can  be  offered,  and 
which  shows,  that  whatever  may  have  been  the  piety  of  the  people, 
scarcely  a  semblance  of  Christianity  existed  among  the  leaders  of 
those  who  professed  to  be  the  lineal  successors  of  the  Apostles.  It 
seems  almost  impossible  for  the  thoughtful  Christian,  whether 
Catholic  or  Protestant,  not  to  see  that  the  Papal  Hierarchy  is  a  system 
at  war  with  Christianity,  and  with  every  form  of  authority  and  every 
kind  of  government  that  does  not  bow  to  its  wishes.  It  undermines 
and  weakens  every  other  form  of  power,  and  then  sinks  by  its  own 
corruptions.  It  is  purer  and  more  unexceptionable  in  its  manifesta- 
tions here  than  elsewhere,  only  because  it  has  not  yet  obtained  power 
enough  to  work  its  own  ruin.  The  separation  between  Catho- 
lics and  their  spiritual  governors  is  not  wider  than  facts  warrant. 
There  is  very  little  in  common  between  the  Catholics  of  this  country 
and  their  Priests  and  Bishops.  The  latter  being  placed  over  them, 
and  removed  from  them  without  their  consent,  real  sympathy  be- 
tween pastor  and  people  is  seldom  maintained.  All  other  Christians 
in  this  country  select  their  own  spiritual  teachers.  This  is  not  only 
denied  to  Catholics,  but  they  are  not  even  permitted  to  own  or  manage 
their  own  churches,  church-yards,  or  cemeteries.  They  are  denied 
all  participation  in  the  councils  of  the  Church;  they  are  neither 
represented  nor  heard  in  the  assemblies  in  which  questions  of  grave 
import  to  their  religious  welfare  are  decided.  Submission  is  their 
chief  duty;  submission  of  mind,  of  body,  and  of  purse.  When 
the  head  is  infallible,  the  other  members  must  obey. 


APPENDIX    A.  167 

It  is  very  visible,  even  on  the  surface,  that  there  is  a  struggle 
going  on  between  the  free  spirit  engendered  among  the  Catholics  by 
our  American  institutions  and  the  Hierarchy  of  Rome.  There  has, 
for  years,  been  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  retain  the 
management  of  their  own  church  property.  Their  claim  has  never 
received  the  least  favor.  The  indignity  put  upon  our  Catholic  fellow- 
citizens  is  doubtless  more  felt  and  talked  of,  than  has  yet  been  made 
public.  The  Hierarchy  believe  that  their  system  is  strong  enough 
to  overcome  this  disposition,  and  to  struggle  successfully  with  Amer- 
ican freedom.  That  will  prove  a  fatal  mistake.  In  other  things, 
the  Hierarchy  show  themselves  unequal  to  the  new  position  in  which 
they  are  placed  here  j  they  should  comprehend  it  better  before  adopt- 
ing their  final  policy.  The  Papacy  of  Europe  cannot  succeed  here.  It 
has  had  a  continual  struggle  for  existence  there ;  the  attempt  to 
carry  out  its  principles  has  been  steadily  resisted.  It  is  hastening  to 
a  collision  with  our  free  institutions  which  cannot  be  very  remote ; 
concealing  within  its  bosom  discontent  and  a  sense  of  wrong,  in 
the  day  of  struggle  between  toleration  and  liberty  on  the  one  hand, 
and  spiritual  domination  on  the  other,  these  will  burst  forth  to  the  confu- 
sion and  defeat  of  the  power  which  has  so  long  smothered  them.  It 
strikes  us  forcibly,  that  a  profound  knowledge  of  human  nature,  in 
which  the  members  of  the  Hierarchy,  above  all  other  men,  ought  to 
be  versed,  should  teach  them  that  their  system  cannot  eventually 
triumph  in  the  United  States.  They  should  be  able  to  see  that 
either  the  American  system  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  must  be 
modified,  or  their  system,  opposed  in  its  theory  and  results  to  both, 
must  undergo  change.  They  can  move  in  harmony  only  whilst  the 
Hierarchy  is  too  weak  to  inflict  injury.  Its  success  heretofore  is 
owing  to  its  inability  to  betray  itself.  Its  inherent  power  of  j^rogress 
is  very  great,  whilst  under  wholesome  restraint,  and  whilst  prevented 
from  exhibiting  its  despotic  character.  "We  regard  a  collision  be- 
tween the  free  institutions  of  this  country  and  the  Papal  Hierarchy 
to  be  as  certain,  as  that  liberty  to  worship  God  accordiug  to  the  dic- 
tates of  each  man's  conscience,  the  main  religious  feature  of  these 
free  institutions,  is  opposed  to  the  Papal  dogma  that  there  is,  and 
can  be,  no  true  worship  of  God  out  of  that  church ;  to  be  just  as 
certain,  as  that  religious  toleration  and  religious  intolerance  are  irre- 
concilable. The  ultimate  result  of  this  struggle  need  not  be  feared; 
though  deplorable  events  might  be  apprehended  in  its  progress,  if 


168  APPENDIX    A. 

the  Catholic  laity  were  disposed  to  sustain  the  Priesthood.  This 
they  will  never  do,  when  the  designs  of  the  Hierarchy  are  laid  bare, 
for  they  are  really  Americans,  and  neither  seek  nor  desire  any  radical 
change  in  our  political  system. 

The  worldly  wisdom  of  the  Hierarchy  fails  in  the  circumstances 
in  which  it  is  placed  here.  It  does  not  appreciate  its  position  nor  its 
difficulties,  and,  unless  checked,  it  is  pushing  on  to  the  greatest  dis- 
asters it  has  encountered  since  the  Reformation,  the  most  damaging 
exposures,  and  the  most  signal  defeat.  The  history  of  Catholicism 
in  this  counti-y  reveals  some  facts  which  many  Protestants  did  not 
anticipate.  The  Catholic  religion  can  live  and  flourish  in  the  face 
of  an  open  Bible,  free  institutions,  general  intelligence,  and  general 
education.  This  result  no  doubt  surprises  the  Hierarchy  as  much 
as  it  does  many  Protestants ;  but  this  result  is  pregnant  with  lessons 
which  the  Hierarchy  is  slow  to  learn.  Their  minds  are  moulded  after 
the  Italian  or  Old  World  fashion ;  they  know  that  an  open  Bible  and 
liberty  of  worship  would  drive  all  the  Priests  out  of  the  Papal  domin- 
ions in  a  fortnight,  and  they  cannot  understand  why  it  is  not  so  here. 
That  is  a  problem  demanding  their  profoundest  study.  Why  do  they 
discourage  the  reading  of  the  Bible  here,  when  their  very  opposition 
induces  many  to  read  it  who  would  not  otherwise  think  of  it?  Why 
do  they  prohibit  it  to  the  children  in  the  schools,  when  these  children 
mingle  freely  with  others  who  are  familiar  with  it,  and  grow  up  with 
them  in  terms  of  intimacy;  when  Bibles  are  met  at  every  turn  —  in 
every  hotel,  in  every  vessel,  and  when,  to  a  curiosity  piqued  by  pro- 
hibition, men  add  the  striking  results  produced  upon  Protes^nts  by 
their  devotion  to  it?  That  the  more  active  and  energetic  minds 
among  the  Catholics  read  the  Bible,  cannot  be  doubted,  and  the 
reading  has  not  produced  any  general  defection  from  Catholic  ranks. 
Many  persons,  in  fact,  perfectly  familiar  with  the  Bible,  trained  to 
its  study  from  infancy,  have  left  Protestantism  and  become  Catholics, 
and  many  of  these  are  the  men  who  now  place  the  claims  of  the 
Hierarchy  on  the  highest  ground.  It  is  perfectly  plain  then,  for 
facts  have  demonstrated  it,  that  the  Catholic  religion  can  live  and 
prosper  with  free  schools  and  the  Bible  in  them. 

This  fact,  and  numberless  others  which  must,  at  times,  attract  their 
notice,  should  suggest  to  the  Hierarchy  the  propriety  and  necessity 
of  establishing  an  American  Church — the  Catholic  Church  of  the 
United    States.     There    have  been  many  organizations  of  portions 


APPENDIX    A.  169 

of  the  Catholic  Church  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  dependence  on 
the  Holy  See.  The  Papal  Church  has  always  been  in  hot  water 
between  her  attempts  to  take  care  of  nations,  kings,  emperors,  and 
people,  and  the  foolish  aversion  of  these  to  acknowledge  the  rights  of 
the  Church,  and  to  submit  their  affairs  to  the  control  of  the  Papacy. 
Mr.  Brownson  complains  of  this  European  stubbornness  which  every 
where,  in  times  past,  and  every  where  now,  resists  this  maternal 
authority,  and  prevents  the  whole  world  from  being  happy  and  peace- 
ful in  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  There  is  not  a  country  in  the 
•world  more  quiet  at  this  moment  under  Papal  drilling  than  our  own. 
It  is,  therefore,  a  fit  time  to  form  a  Catholic  Church  for  this  country, 
in  harmony  with  its  principles  and  its  institutions.  In  no  other  way 
can  ultimate  collision  be  escaped.  The  two  great  systems  cannot 
prosper  long  side  by  side.  The  older  having  come  to  dwell  with  the 
younger,  must  make  the  needful  concession.  The  Galilean  Church 
was  a  concession.  But  something  better  than  that  is  required  here. 
It  is  but  simple  good  policy  to  give  the  management  of  all  church 
property  to  the  people  of  each  congregation :  there  must  be  some 
among  them  sufficiently  faithful  and  sufficiently  intelligent.  It  is 
but  like  good  policy  to  let  the  people  have  some  voice  in  the  choice 
and  dismissal  of  their  pastors,  and  so  much  is  required  to  place  Ca- 
tholics on  an  equality  with  the  freemen  around  them.  The  subordi- 
nation to  Rome  has  been,  in  most  European  countries,  for  several 
centuries,  very  slight  indeed :  in  this  country  it  should  be  less  than 
in  the  least,  and  be  confined,  of  course,  to  questions  purely  theologi- 
cal, and  be  only  exercised  when  invoked  by  American  ecclesiastics. 

But  above  all,  and  in  this  lies  the  chief  argument  for  the  change 
from  the  European  to  the  American  system,  the  Catholic  Priesthood 
should  unite  in  some  great  public  act,  framed  in  open  assembly, 
avowing  their  hearty  adoption  of  the  principle  of  religious  toleration, 
as  announced  in  the  constitutions  of  the  various  States  of  the  Union, 
and  admitting  that  all  truly  pious  persons  may  be  saved,  by  what- 
ever name  they  may  be  called.  Measures  like  these  would  give 
the  Catholic  Church  a  security  in  this  country  equal  to  the  stability 
of  the  country  itself,  and  insure  it  a  higher  destiny  than  its  warmest 
friends  should  hope  for  at  present.  Its  struggle  then  with  other 
churches  would  be  a  struggle  for  truth,  not  for  power.  In  our  view, 
this  would  save  the  people  of  the  United  States  from  one  of  the 
most  troublesome  convulsions  which  now  threatens  their  future  peace. 


170  APPENDIX   B. 

Advice  is  always  esteemed  a  cheap  commodity,  though  it  may  cost 
the  adviser  very  dear.  In  the  present  case  it  is  not  intended  to  be 
insulting.  The  truth  is,  the  very  great  frankness  of  Mr.  Brownson 
is  infectious,  and  the  openness  of  his  heart  requires  something  equally 
frank  in  return. 

We  confess  ourselves  indebted  to  him  in  many  respects,  and  we 
heartily  wish  that  his  bold  denunciations  of  Protestantism  were 
read  by  all  in  the  United  States  who  are  capable  of  profiting  by  such 
lessons.  His  sketch  is  a  broad  caricature,  but  he  puts  in  at  times  a 
lineament  so  true  that  it  must  bring  a  tinge  of  shame  on  every 
Protestant  face  that  sees  it.  He  draws  a  picture  of  the  Papacy  so 
ideal,  so  purely  imaginative,  so  grand,  so  unlike  any  thing  above,  or 
below,  or  on  the  earth,  that  he  may  safely  be  left  to  worship  it  as 
the  image  of  "  nothing  in  Heaven  above  or  on  the  earth  beneath,  or 
in  the  waters  under  the  earth." 


APPENDIX   B. 

We  transfer  from  the  Appendix  of  "  Politics  for  American  Chris- 
tians," the  following  remarks,  which  appear  appropriate  to  the  topic 
we  have  been  considering. 

"  It  is  a  sad  mistake  to  assume  that  the  field  of  humanity  has  all 
been  explored,  or  that  the  heights  or  the  depths  of  Christianity  have 
been  reached  as  yet  by  any  human  eye.  The  landscape  in  each 
widens  as  we  advance,  and  no  human  glance  can  ever  cover  the  whole. 
But  no  eye  should  be  satisfied  while  more  remains  to  be  seen.  It 
requires  no  small  effort  to  detach  one's  self  from  the  busy  turmoil 
and  exciting  scenes  of  social  and  religious  life,  and  to  withdraw  so 
far  as  to  look  from  a  place  apart  at  the  drama  enacted  upon  the  stage 
of  life.  The  spectacle  thus  obtained  is  worthy  the  highest  intellec- 
tual effort;  it  is  instructive  beyond  all  definite  estimation. 

Let  any  one  who  would  find  this  point  of  view,  ascertain  what  all 
of  Protestantism  is  doing  in  the  cause  of  humanity;  how  it  is  pro- 
moting the  progress  of  social  amelioration;  and  the  position  it  occu- 
pies on  all  the  great  questions  which  most  concern  the  peace,  and 


APPENDIX    B.  171 

happiness,  and  well-being  of  men  in  this  life.  It  may  cost  many 
years  of  effort  and  inquiry  to  occupy  a  position  which  will  afford  a 
full  view  of  the  subject,  the  complications  of  which  are  enough  to 
deter  any  but  the  most  resolute.  It  cannot  be  done  without  severe 
mental  discipline  and  painful  struggles;  for  many  things  have  to  be 
unlearned.  But  it  costs  no  sacrifice  of  orthodoxy.  On  the  contrary, 
it  would  vindicate  orthodoxy  from  much  for  which  it  should  never 
have  been  responsible ;  it  will  afford  a  clearer  view  of  the  elementary 
doctrines  of  Christianity  than  can  be  had  in  any  other  way.  This 
view  must  be  obtained  with  one  hand  toward  Divinity,  the  other 
toward  Humanity,  an  open  Bible  before  the  eyes,  a  heart  raised  to 
God  for  the  enlightening  influences  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  and  with  a 
devout  looking,  not  only  to  Christ  our  atoning  Saviour,  but  to  Christ 
our  Lawgiver,  our  Teacher,  our  Great  Examplar,  not  less  to  be 
heeded  and  obeyed  than  to  be  accepted  and  worshipped.  This  method 
of  inquiry  will  exalt  Christianity  above  all  former  estimation,  by 
exhibiting  its  fitness  and  applicability,  not  only  to  save  men  in  eter- 
nity, but  to  save  them  from  a  vast  sum  of  misery,  wickedness,  and 
oppression  in  this  world;  thus  increasing  their  grounds  for  gratitude 
to  God,  and  leaving  them  time  and  opportunity  to  prepare  for  Heaven. 
Has  collective  Protestantism  no  grave  faults  to  answer  for  ?  Does 
it  claim  infallibility  ?  If  not,  if  it  be  conceded  that  Protestantism 
has  failings,  then  what  are  they  ?  Are  they  sins  of  omission  or 
commission,  or  both?  Let  a  deep  search  be  made  into  the  grand 
household  and  conscience  of  Protestantism.  Let  there  be  no  flinch- 
ing, and  no  sparing ;  let  neither  spiritual  pride  nor  false  shame  pre- 
vent a  full  discovery  and  an  honest  confession.  Whilst  Protestantism 
is  dear  to  all  for  the  good  done  under  its  banners,  and  for  that  which 
is  still  doing,  let  no  one  identify  it  with  Christianity,  and  thus  make 
the  latter  responsible  for  all  that  passes  under  the  name  of  the  for- 
mer. The  sins  of  the  purest  Christian  are  still  sins,  and  make  no 
part  of  his  Christianity ;  they  arc  to  be  sought  for,  and  repented  of, 
and  avoided.  So  neither  should  the  sins  of  Protestantism  be  ex- 
cused or  covered,  much  less  should  they  be  allowed  to  bring  reproach 
upon  the  cause  of  Christ.  One  of  the  great  sins  of  Protestantism 
is,  the  refusal  to  co-operate  —  to  be,  even  for  the  advancement  of 
the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  a  unit;  even  for  the  common  defence 
against  a  common  enemy.  Christianity  has  one  voice,  and  utters 
simply  the  teachings  of  the    Holy  Scriptures;    Protestantism    has 


172  APPENDIX    B. 

many  tongues,  and  utters,  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  a 
variety  of  voices,  and  these  very  far  from  being  in  harmony.  Yet 
let  the  inquiry  be  made,  if  there  be  not  points  of  concord,  and  those 
of  vital  import  to  the  highest  interests  of  Christianity  and  humanity, 
on  which  Protestantism  can  speak  with  one  voice,  and  work  with 
undivided  energies.  If  there  be  such  points  of  concord,  admitting 
unity  of  voice  and  action,  and  no  advantage  taken  of  them,  then 
Protestantism  is  guilty  of  a  great  and  deadly  oifence  against  Christi- 
anity. 

Let  any  Christian  man,  any  real  friend  of  humanity,  carefully  and 
continuously  survey  the  actual  condition  of  the  human  family,  in 
its  various  phases  of  barbarism  and  civilization ;  in  its  aspects  of 
happiness  and  suffering ;  in  its  social  and  political  institutions ;  in 
its  relations  with  labor,  with  capital,  with  commerce ;  let  him  con- 
sider  the  nature  of  the  progress  which  he  observes,  and  the  tenden- 
cies which  are  at  work ;  let  him  note  all  the  hopes  and  promises 
which  can  be  gathered  from  every  form  of  monarchy,  aristocracy, 
and  democracy,  and  from  every  conceivable  combination  of  them 
which  human  ingenuity  can  devise ;  and  from  every  form  of  philoso- 
sophy,  and  every  project  of  reform;  let  him  superadd,  from  the  page 
of  history,  all  that  man  has  done  for  man  in  the  most  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, and  finally,  let  him  sum  up  that  which  is  hopeful  in 
human  prospects,  not  forgetting  that  some  of  the  most  boasted  human 
triumphs  have  been  purchased  by  the  direst  human  calamities,  that 
the  tendencies  to  evil  do  not  lessen  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of 
intelligence,  while  the  power  of  mischief  enlarges ;  and  he  must  be 
convinced  that  there  is  no  inherent  virtue,  no  moral  power,  no  good 
inclinations  in  man,  adequate  to  such  a  social  and  political  regenera- 
tion of  society  as  appears  to  be  attainable  by  a  creature  of  his  facul- 
ties and  endowments.  Such  a  survey  must  convince  the  observer 
that  no  such  moral  power  exists,  except  in  the  influences  of  Christi- 
anity, to  which  he  is  forced  to  attribute  the  largest  share  of  the 
actual  progress  made  in  human  welfare  since  the  Christian  era.  In 
this  survey,  the  first  great  feature  is,  that,  during  the  early  ages  of 
Christianity,  its  moral  power  to  renovate  human  society  and  promote 
human  happiness  was  plainiy  demonstrated  to  the  world ;  the  highest 
earthly  hopes  of  man  were  placed  within  the  reach  of  Christian 
effort.  The  early  history  of  Christianity  appeared  to  promise  a 
bright  day  for  the  human  family;  but  human  depravity  and  perver- 


APPENDIX    B.  173 

sity  triumphed  ia  that  struggle ;  Christianity  degenerated  into  Ro- 
manism, and  the  evening  of  that  bright  dawn  ended  in  the  long 
night  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Thus  the  first  experiment  of  Christian- 
ity, regarded  as  the  only  power  adequate  to  secure  the  highest 
earthly  happiness,  failed  signally  in  Papal  hands.  The  Reformation 
was  the  era  of  another  experiment,  which  has  now  been  three  cen- 
turies in  progress.  This  time,  the  administration  of  Christianity 
is  divided  between  Romanism,  whose  evil  tendencies  are  as  great  as 
heretofore,  and  Protestantism,  which  has  assumed  a  position  of 
scarcely  less  power,  and  perhaps  greater  influence.  Protestantism  is 
now,  and  has,  during  its  whole  history,  been  regarded  as  the  wor- 
thiest representative  of  Christianity.  The  purest  individual  Christian 
laments  his  insuflSciency  and  utter  unworthiness,  and  yet  how  far  is 
such  an  one  above  the  collective  piety  of  Protestantism,  split,  as  it 
is,  into  shapeless  and  countless  fragments,  hostile  factions  swelling 
with  incessant  intestinal  broils  and  explosions.  How  imperfect  a 
representation  of  the  holy  cause  it  impersonates !  It  presents 
a  foundation  of  heaving,  shifting  sands,  upon  which  to  build  the 
fabric  of  human  welfare,  rather  than  one  "  of  rock  which  cannot  be 
shaken."  Must  this  experiment  fail,  and  prove  that  Protestantism 
is  also  unequal  to  the  task  of  applying  Christianity  to  the  earthly 
exigencies  of  humanity?  For  anything  that  the  collective  power 
and  influence  of  Protestantism  is  now  doing  to  promote  national  wel- 
fare or  social  reform,  it  may  be  apprehended  that,  at  no  distant 
period,  the  Protestant  administration  of  Christianity  will  be  sub- 
jected, not  to  a  deep  night  of  ignorance  —  that  is  no  longer  possible 
—  but  to  a  long  day  of  superlative  intelligence,  crime,  and  misery. 

Christianity  is  a  system  of  man's  duty  to  God  and  to  his  fellow- 
men.  It  enjoins  all  that  is  included  in  love  to  God,  and  all  that  is 
included  in  kindness  to  men.  Its  administration  is,  however,  com- 
mitted to  men,  and  partakes  in  its  every  manifestation  of  human 
infirmity.  And  while  it  offers  much  that  is  beautiful,  it  reveals 
more  that  is  grievous  and  shocking.  Christianity  involves,  wherever 
there  is  liberty  of  speech  and  action,  a  variety  of  opinions  and  inter- 
pretations, and  consequently  a  variety  of  churches  or  sects,  various 
organizations  and  forms  of  ecclesiastical  government;  also  creeds, 
confessions,  articles,  liturgies,  forms  of  worship,  a  ministry  —  di- 
vinely appointed,  or  religiously  instituted ;  assemblies  for  worship, 
houses  or  churches  in  which  to  worship,  and  church  architecture. 


174  APPENDIX    B. 

Upon  all  these,  and  many  more  like  things,  there  prevails,  among  even 
Protestant  Christians,  wide  and  apparently  irreconcilable  differences 
of  opinion.  These  differences  naturally  magnify  the  objects  to  which 
they  relate,  in  the  minds  of  those  who  permit  themselves  to  dwell 
upon  them,  and  thus  men's  minds  are  seduced  into  merely  collateral 
channels.  Their  whole  time  and  their  whole  minds  become  absorbed 
in  minor  matters,  while  they  suffer  the  substance  to  slip  from  their 
attention  and  sink  from  their  sight.  It  is  not  necessary  to  weigh  the 
exact  value  of  these  externals  of  Christianity,  in  their  true  place, 
and  order,  and  use,  but  it  is  easy  to  say  that  they  are  of  no  use  if 
abused  or  misapplied,  and  that  they  become  a  positive  evil  when  they 
are  substituted  for  Christianity  itself,  as  is  largely  the  case.  None 
of  these  things,  at  the  best,  are  to  be  received  as  Christianity,  neither 
is  it  to  be  held  responsible  for  any  abuse  of  them.  It  is  as  high 
above  all  these  externals  as  heaven  is  above  the  earth.  If  our  faith 
be  too  weak,  and  our  energies  insufficient  to  exemplify  Christianity 
in  our  lives,  we  should  not  permit  our  conception  to  fall  as  low  as 
our  practice.  We  can  never  rise  in  our  exemplification,  if  our  con- 
ception be  inadequate  and  unworthy.  If  men  find  it  hard  to  act 
beyond  the  line  of  denominational  boundaries,  let  not  their  faith 
suffer  by  assuming  a  narrower  scope  for  Christianity  itself  than  ^'tig.. 
most  enlarged  views  their  minds  are  capable  of  grasping.  Its  grandest- 
aspect  is  that  in  which  it  not  only  offers  eternal  life  and  happiness  to 
lost  men,  but  wins  their  consent  to  the  message  of  mercy  by  offering 
all  that  man  can  do  and  feel  for  man,  as  earnest  of  the  authenticity 
and  verity  of  the  message.  It  is  that  in  which,  while  it  points  to 
men  the  way  to  Heaven,  smooths  their  path  through  this  world  to 
the  utmost  extent  which  human  love  and  sympathy  can  go,  thus 
furnishing  the  nearest  approximation  which  can  be  made  in  this 
world,  to  the  life  of  love  in  the  world  to  come.  It  is  a  grand  fea- 
ture in  Christianity,  that  its  simple  but  comprehensive  principles  and 
injunctions  involve  the  very  elements  of  social  life,  the  utmost  duty 
of  man  to  man.  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself,"  is  a 
command  which  reaches  to  the  whole  compass  of  human  duty;  we 
owe  to  our  neighbor  not  merely  alms,  when  he  is  poor;  we  ought  to 
save  him  from  becoming  poor.  \Ye  owe  him  a  better  position  in 
society;  we  owe  him  every  social  advantage  —  good  laws,  good  insti- 
tutions, a  good  government,  a  happy  and  prosperous  country.  What 
we  owe  to  one  we  owe  to  all,  and  all  in  like  manner  owe  to  us. 


APPENDIX    B.  175 

These  obligations  no  human  being  can  fulfil,  under  the  requirements 
of  the  gospel,  short  of  expending  his  whole  energies  and  his  whole 
opportunities.  But  the  advantage  of  our  neighbor  is  not  to  be  found 
only  in,  the  bounds  of  his  own  country;  it  must  be  sought  in  the 
happiest  relations  of  his  own  country  with  all  the  nations  of  the 
world ;  peace  with  all  nations,  and  interchange  of  every  good  office 
with  all.  This  vast  scope  of  human  duty  involves  necessarily  the 
study  of  all  the  themes  involved  in  so  wide  a  compass  of  human 
action  —  it  involves  the  consideration  of  all  that  concerns  human 
welfare  in  this  world,  in  connection  with  its  highest  destiny  in  the 
next  world.  While,  therefore,  nothing  is  omitted  in  the  sphere  of 
immediate  duties,  there  should  be  no  failure  to  follow  out  all  obliga- 
tions to  their  largest  consequences,  and  to  widen  the  range  of  duty 
to  the  utmost  range  of  mental  power  •  extending  the  range  of  action 
and  influence  in  proportion  as  the  field  of  vision  is  enlarged.  Very 
many,  it  is  well  known,  have  no  faith  in  moral  or  social  progress ; 
they  regard  all  speculations  in  reference  to  social  amelioration,  as,  at 
the  best,  mere  visionary  dreams,  if  not  what  is  far  worse,  downright 
socialism.  But  let  no  friend  of  the  human  family  be  deterred  from 
any  research,  or  inquiry,  or  speculation,  looking  to  human  advantage, 
^?Buch  narrowness  of  mind.  Let  him  take  the  Gospels  in  his 
Band,  and  the  light  of  all  the  other  Scriptures,  and  he  may  go  as 
far  as  his  intelligence  and  knowledge  of  the  world  will  carry  him ; 
and  if  he  cannot  secure  the  co-operation  or  approval  of  the  Christian 
men  of  the  present  day,  he  will  have  the  full  sympathy  of  those 
who,  having  gone  before,  are  observing  the  world  from  a  point  of 
view  where  nothing  clouds  their  vision." 


THE    END. 


iE  IMlIilMATUR  OP  EROWNSON^S 
QUAHTEEIY  REVIEW.    ' 

Doubts  having  been  expresseJ  about  the  facts  stated  w^in,  at 
page  141,  that  tjie  extracts  taken  from  Brownson's  Preview  h.a^  the 
sanction  of  the  Catholic  Church,  we  now  subjoin  the  letter  of  thf>higli 
Papal  clergy,  which  has  a  standing  place  on  the  covers  of  Bro  J.^r? 
Quarterly  Review  since  1849.  Any  one  can  verify  this  by  iookitg  at 
the  cover  of  the  Review,  which  is  to  be^found  at  all  the  chief  Cutholic 
bookstores  in  the  United  States. 


„  „  "I^ALTIMORE,  ISthMav.  I84i^'-«a 

After  the  dose  of  our  Council,  I  suggested  to  our  venerable  n,ctropolitan 
the  propnety  of  encouraging  you  by  our  approbation  and  inauenoe  t.  cont 
your  literary  labors  in  defence  of  the  faith,  of  whicTi  yon  have  proved  an 
and  intrepid  advocate.     He  received  the  suggestion  mo.t    ea,  ily,  and  I 
the  liberty  of  communicating  the  fact  to  you,  as  a  mark  of  mv  «:„,ere  e^ 
and  of  the  <leep  interest  I  feel  in  your  excellent  Review.     I  .bail  bej:  o" 
ana  of  other  prelates  who  entertain  the  same  views,  to  sub-.u!;  ^  th.ir 
Ml  confirmation  of  my  statement.     Four  very  devoted  friend, 

,,    ,    ^  FiiAjjcis  pATBicr:  Kenukk,  t 

U.  A.  JiROw;  SOS,  I]sa.  t>-  u         ^  ^. ..  ^ 

'  ^^  Bishop  of  Philadelph 

.     '_  IT  .innn  Hrr/^»ir,n     t>:  .1.  ..  i- 


Loiiis. 
t  MrcHAEL,  iilshop  of  Mobile, 
t  A.N  i  HON  y.  Bishop  of  New  Orleans 
f  Joiiy  JosE'Tf,  liixhoj^  oi  Natchez. 


;  -Ma 
t  Jo 
t  Ma. 


J  K 


t  M.  ,/ 

fTVi,, 


t  John  Hughes,  Bish-'p  of  .\,.w  fork 

t  RiCH.IRD  VlSCKNT,  Blshop   of  lifh- 

t  James  Otiver,  Bish  ;p  of  Chicago! 
t  Ton.,   U.   Hkssi,   Bi«hon   of    Mi 

waukee. 
t  John,  liishop  of  Albanv. 

.l!«v    r,  r.f  r i  t  ^"^"Evs,  Bishop  of  Cleveland.  « 

Bisl.  .0  of  Lengone,    f  Pkter  Paul,  Bishop  Zela  r^oau'i^ 
'M     ...uisvil.e..  !  AdniinLstrator  of  Detroit. 


lop  of  Btiffalo. 
1    ..v.::;,  Bishop  cf  Pittsburg. 
■s,  r<;sliof  of  Dn'ouque. 
:  A'    !  'i.r-.  i'.i.slu-    .-,f  Galveston 


,   'Ush.p  of  Vin- ,  f  Ignatius  Al. 'REys^Ln^'BisL 
,,  ....  I         Charleston. 

IvLEv  1       oporaartfovd.,tAxDRrw  Byrne.    Bisho; 
^   a^ui.    ■j^ih-r    fBoston.  I  Rocls.," 


V 


n 


